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HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



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Zd^i'Ji 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA 



FROM ITS DISCOVERY BY PONCE DE LEON, 

IN 15 1 2, TO THE CLOSE OF THE 

FLORIDA WAR, IN 1842. 



BY 



GEORGE R. FAIRBANKS. 




PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO, 

JACKSONVILLE, FLA.: 

COLUMBUS DREW. 
1871. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 187 1, by 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



T3 



w 



1 



TO THE MEMORY OF MY HONORED FRIEND, 

ISAAC H. BRONSON, 

THE FIRST JUDGE OF THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, NORTHERN DISTRICT 
OF FLORIDA, 

A CITIZEN . 

WHOSE PRIVATE LIFE AND PUBLIC VIRTUES SHED LUSTRE UPON THE 
STATE OF HIS ADOPTION, 

THIS VOLUME 

IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 

BY THE AUTHOR. 



(V) 



PREFACE. 



Apart from the interest attached to Florida from its 
having been the first portion of the United States occu- 
pied by Europeans, it is associated with some of the most 
interesting and romantic events in American history. 
Portions of its long and eventful history have been writ- 
ten in the Latin, French, Spanish, and English languages. 
As early as 1591, De Bry published, in the Latin language, 
an account of the settlement of the Huguenots and the 
destruction of their colony, illustrated by fifty well-exe- 
cuted engravings ; and many later writers have treated of 
the history, climate, and natural productions of Florida, 
among whom may be mentioned La Vega, Fernandez, 
Biedma, Barcia, De Vaca, Herrera, Hakluyt, Roberts, 
Stark, Romans, De Brahm, Bartram, Vignoles, Forbes, 
and Darby; Williams published a very complete gazet- 
teer in 1837; and to these should be added the valuable 
work of General Sprague, of the United States Army, 
''The History of the Florida War." Buckingham Smith, 
Esq., formerly Secretary of Legation to Spain, whose life 
has been devoted to the investigation of Spanish and 
Indian antiquities, has edited, with valuable critical and 

(vii) 



viii PREFACE. 

descriptive notes, several of the most interesting works 
upon Florida. But, although so much has been written 
in reference to Florida, hitherto no connected history of 
the State has been published ; and it has been the object of 
the writer of this work to bring within a moderate compass 
a complete and authentic history of the State, from its 
discovery by Ponce de Leon to the close of the Florida 
War. 

For obvious reasons, the events of the late civil war 
have not been incorporated in the present volume. They 
will, doubtless, at some future time, form the material of a 
chapter of no inconsiderable interest. 

University of the South, Seivanee, Tenn., Jan. 1871. 



/ 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Discovery of Florida by Ponce de Leon — Expeditions of De 
Ayllon, Miruelo, Cordova, Alaminos, and Verazzano 



PAGE 

3 



CHAPTER II. 

Expedition and Shipwreck of Panfilo de Narvaez, and Adven- 
tures of Cabe9a de Vaca, the Discoverer of the Mississippi . 29 



CHAPTER III. 
Expedition of Hernando de Soto " 48 

CHAPTER IV. 
Expedition of Hernando de Soto, continued . . . .60 

CHAPTER V. 
Route of De Soto's Expedition through Florida . . . '73 

CHAPTER VI. 

Other Expeditions to Florida — Occupation of Santa Maria by 
Tristan de Luna — Expedition to the Borders of Tennessee and 

the Province of Coca 77 

(ix) 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VII. 

PAGE 

Huguenot Settlements at Charles Fort under Ribaut, and at Fort 
Caroline under Laudonniere ....... 92 

CHAPTER VIII. 

French Expedition of Ribaut to relieve Fort Caroline — Spanish 
Expedition of Menendez to expel the Huguenots — Capture of 
Fort Caroline by Menendez, and Massacre of the Garrison . 1 1 1 



CHAPTER IX. 

Shipwreck and Massacre of Ribaut and his Followers . .121 

CHAPTER X. 

Situation of Matters at St. Augustine, and Explorations made by 
Menendez 133 

CHAPTER XL 

Recapture of Fort Caroline, and the Notable Revenge of Dominic 
de Gourgues 142 

CHAPTER XII. 

Return of Menendez — Attack on St. Augustine by Sir Francis 
Drake — Missions to the Indians, and Massacre of the Mission 
Fathers — Attack on St. Augustine by Captain Davis — Estab- 
lishment of a Spanish Settlement at Pensacola . . .156 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Governor Moore's Attack on St. Augustine — Invasion of Moore, 
with the Creek Indians, of the Indian Missions and Spanish 
Posts in Middle Florida — Erection of a Fort at St. Mark's — 
Capture of Pensacola by the French — Recapture of Pensacola 
by the Spaniards — Recapture of Pensacola by the French — 
Transfer of Pensacola to Spain 171 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PAGE 

Attack on St. Augustine by Oglethorpe — Attack of Monteano on 
St. Simon's Island — Transfer of Florida to Great Britain . . igo 

CHAPTER XV. 

Policy of the English Government for the Settlement of Florida — 
Land-Grants — Dr. Turnbull's Colony of Greeks and Minor- 
cans at Smyrna — Governor Grant's Administration — Governor 
Tonyn's Administration — First Colonial Assembly — Revolution- 
ary War — Burning of Effigies of Hancock and Adams . . 210 

CHAPTER XVI. 

English Occupation, continued — Capture of Pensacola by De 
Galvez — Capture of New Providence by the English — Retrans- 
fer of Florida to Spain ........ 228 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Condition of the Province after its Recession to Spain — Notice of 
McGillivray — Operations of Bowles — Patriot Rebellion — Oper- 
ations of United States Troops in Florida — Indian Hostilities, 
between the Americans and King Payne the Seminole . . 244 

CHAPTER XV II I. 

Occupation of Pensacola by the English — English driven from 
Pensacola by General Jackson— Destruction of Negro Fort on 
Apalachicola by Colonel Clinch — Defeat of Florida Indians by 
General Jackson — Occupation of Pensacola by General Jackson 
— Treaty with Spain, ceding Florida to United States . . 260 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Organization of Territory of Florida — Condition of the Indians — 
Treaty of Fort Moultrie — Indian Agency — Treaty of Payne's 
Landing — Collisions between the Races 269 



xii CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XX. 

PAGB 

Hostile Disposition of the Indians — Murder of General Thomp- 
son, Indian Agent — Massacre of Major Dade's Command — 
Battle of the Withlacoochee — General vScott's Campaign . . 284 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Florida War, continued — General Jesup in Command — Indian 
Assault on Fort Mellon — Capitulation of Fort Dade — Flight of 
the Indians from Fort Brooke — Capture of King Philip, Coa- 
coochee, and Osceola — Battle of Okechobee — Escape of Coa- 
coochee — Surrender of HalleckHajo and others — Results of 
General Jesup's Operations — General Taylor appointed to the 
Command . . . . . . . . . . 303 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Florida War, continued, under General Taylor — Removal of Apa- 
lachee Indians — General Macomb's Treaty with the Indians — 
Proclamation that the War was ended — Resumption of Hostili- 
ties — Massacre of Colonel Harney's Detachment — Tragical Fate 
of Mrs. Montgomery — The Cuba Bloodhounds — Expedition of 
Colonel Worth to Okechobee — Recapture of Coacoochee . 318 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Florida War, continued, under Command of General Worth — In- 
terview between General Worth and Coacoochee at Tampa 
Bay — Surrender of Coacoochee's Band — Active Operations of 
General Worth in the Everglades — Surrender of various Bands 
— Close of the Florida War 335 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA, 



CHAPTER I. 

Discovery of Florida by Ponce de Leon — Expeditions of De Ayllon, 
Miruelo, Cordova, Alaminos, and Verazzano. 

1512— 1525. 

The discovery of Florida is one of the romantic epi- 
sodes of history. Cohimbus and his successors had, rather 
by chance than design, pursued a southerly line of explora- 
tion, which had led them to the discovery, in the first in- 
stance, of the West India Islands, and, subsequently, of the 
mainland of South America and a small part of Central 
America. Even the shores of the vast Pacific had been 
reached by Balboa before the southeastern portion of the 
United States had been discovered. This seems the more 
singular, as the pursuit of a westerly course from Spain 
would have brought an expedition in sight of land on the 
coasts of North America much sooner than the southwest- 
erly course, v/hich carried the navigators to the islands and 
shores of the Caribbean Sea. 

It has been claimed that Sebastian Cabot, in the year 
1497, sailing under a commission granted by Henry VII. 
of England, coasted along the shores of North America 
from 61*^ to the southern extremity of Florida. It is, 
however, very doubtful whether he went south of Cape 
Hatteras, in lat. ^6°, the whole statement resting upon 

2 (13) 



X4 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

a passage in Peter Martyr, in which it is stated " that Cabot 
sailed so far toward the west that he had the island of 
Cuba on his left hand, in manner, in the same degree of 
longitude."* 

This expression, in connection with the previous state- 
ment that he had sailed as far southward as the Straits of 
Gibraltar, would indicate Cape Hatteras as the southern 
limit of his voyage. At the period of these early voyages 
the name of Florida was applied to the whole coast, from 
the Chesapeake southwards. 

The generally received opinion, however, confers the 
credit of the discovery of Florida upon Juan Ponce de 
Leon, in the year 15 12. The origin of the expedition 
which resulted in the discovery, and the object of its pros- 
ecution by the romantic old cavalier, have associated Flor- 
ida with the Fountain of Youth so long embalmed in ancient 
fable. 

Juan Ponce de Leon was one of the companions of Co- 
lumbus upon his second voyage, and subsequently remained 
on the island of Hispaniolaas an officer of some reputation 
under Ovando. While thus employed he visited the island 
of Porto Rico, and eventually received a commission to 
conquer and colonize that island. After various turns of 
fortune, checkered with successes and adversities, he at 
length succeeded in accomplishing its subjugation, only to 
find himself, as was not infrequent in those days, superseded 

* " Thus seeing such heapes of yce before him, he was enforced to 
turne his saile and follow the west, so coasting still by the shore that 
he was thereby brought so farre into the south by reason of the land 
bending so much southwards that it was thereby almost equal in lati- 
tude with the vStraits of Herculaneum, having the North Pole elevate 
in a manner with the same degree. He sailed likewise in this tract so 
far toward the west that he had the island of Cuba on his left hand, 
in manner, in the same degree of longitude." — HaklUYT, vol. iii. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



15 



by some newer favorite of the court. Thus deprived of his 
dignity as Adelantado of Porto Rico, the restless old sol- 
dier turned, naturally enough, to the setting on foot of some 
new expedition, which should redound to his honor and 
profit. 

The explorations to the south and west had already en- 
gaged the attention of many others, and it was the fashion 
in those days to apportion limits, which would preclude all, 
except the duly commissioned parties, from visiting or ex- 
ploring within certain degrees of latitude and longitude. 

This arrangement was the more readily made, inasmuch 
as at the outset of the discoveries in the western seas Pope 
Alexander VI. had, by special grant, given to his Catholic 
Majesty of Spain — no diplomatic notes of protest being made 
by other powers, those most interested being ignorant of 
the concession — unlimited sway over all the countries, na- 
tions, and people lying to the westward of those previously 
assigned to the crown of Portugal. 

While casting about in his mind as to what direction to 
give to his proposed enterprise, the veteran was informed 
by some of those purveyors of the marvelous who can always 
manage to supply the appetite of the credulous, that there 
was a famous land, lying to the northwest, which contained 
within its borders all the treasures of El Dorado, and, more- 
over, to its other wonders added that of possessing a stream 
the waters of which were gifted with the power of confer- 
ring upon those who should bathe themselves therein the 
freshness of youth and a renovation of all their faculties. 

This enticing description appealed to Ponce de Leon by 
many considerations, among the most prominent of which 
was the natural craving for gold felt by him in common 
with all the adventurers ; and, moreover, to one sensibly 
declining in years and strength, nothing could be more 
desirable than to obtain a fresh lease of youthful vigor and 



1 6 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

enjoyment ; while to these potent reasons was added the 
expectation that the honor which would crown the happy- 
discoverer of this wonderful land would exceed that of all 
his predecessors in the field of discovery. 

The veteran officer had acquired some degree of wealth 
in his public employments, and was thus enabled, from his 
own means, to equip three vessels for his expedition. He 
easily obtained followers to accompany him, as credulity 
was not a rare quality, and the real wonders of the New 
World were apparently as strange as any that could be 
invented. 

Departing from Porto Rico in the spring of 151 2, Ponce 
de Leon directed his course, in the first instance, towards 
the supposed location of Bimini, an island which shared 
with the other unknown region the possession of one of 
these wonderful fountains, and was said to lie near at hand 
in the Lucayan group. A long cruise amid the Bahama 
cluster of rocks and islets gave no satisfactory result to his 
search for the fabled Bimini, and, like many other wonders, 
more seemed to be known about it at a distance than in 
the locality where it was said to exist. 

Unable, after a long exploration, to find Bimini, he then 
determined to seek the more distant land which had tempted 
his covetousness and his ambition. It is highly probable 
that, in cruising among the Bahamas, he received informa- 
tion of the existence of land to the northwest of them, as the 
Strait of Florida is but some fifty miles in width, and the 
natives had, doubtless, some intercourse across the calm 
summer seas with their neighbors of the main. He first 
made land on the eastern coast of Florida on Sunday, the 
27th of March, 15 12, but did not set foot upon its shores 
until the 2d of April, in lat. 30° 8', at a point probably a 
short distance northerly of St. Augustine. The Indian 
name of the country is said to have been Cautio, but Ponce 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



n 



de Leon, following the custom of the times, by reason of 
having come upon the coast on Palm-Sunday — Pascua Flo- 
rida, as it is called in Spanish — and probably delighted with 
the green verdure and flowing glades which opened upon 
his view, gave to his supposed island the name of Florida. 
The usual ceremony of planting a cross and taking posses- 
sion of the country in the name of the Spanish monarch, 
swearing allegiance to his throne, and throwing the royal 
t)anner to the breeze, was observed, and the country came 
thereby to be considered by their Catholic Majesties a 
Spanish province by right of discovery. 

They remained on the coast some two months, exploring 
the interior to some extent, and visiting various portions 
of the shores of the supposed island. The inhabitants they 
found to be fierce and implacable, and the explorations 
made brought to light neither riches nor treasures of any 
kind ; nor could the eager De Leon obtain any tidings of 
the fabled fountain which was to renew his youth. Finally, 
discouraged with the fruitless results of his expedition, he 
returned to Porto Rico, carrying with him nothing of value 
but the report of his discovery. 

Whether the story of the Fountain of Youth, and of the 
golden treasures of the mainland, was a pure fable, or 
whether it was merely a poetic and exaggerated description 
of the country, may well admit of a doubt : I am inclined, 
however, to the belief that the latter is the more reason- 
able view of it. 

While much of Florida is in one sense comparatively 
barren, yet the evergreen and luxuriant foliage which 
covers its soil and hangs in rich masses along the banks 
of its streams, the pleasant equability of its climate, a 
country affording in its rivers, its forests, and its produc- 
tions, easy means for the support of life to a savage race — 
while the passion for display could be gratified by the gold 



1 8 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

and pearls obtained, with no great difficulty, from the 
streams and hills of Georgia — might well cause it to be ac- 
counted by the occasional visitors from the adjoining isles 
as indeed a rich and pleasant country, and even the fabled 
fountain might seem to find a realization in some of the 
remarkably beautiful springs which exist in various portions 
of the country. Who that has ever floated on the bright 
waters of Silver Spring, or the bosom of the Wakulla, has 
not felt his pulses thrill with delight at the almost unreaf 
character of the scenf^ — the waters so pellucid that one 
seems suspended in mid-air; the shadoAvs from the skies 
above rest in changing beauty in its depths ; while the 
bright sunlight flecks the silvery rocks below with rays of 
dazzling brightness, and an azure tinge encircles every ob- 
ject and surrounds it with a halo of purplish light. It is 
not strange that they should be deemed to possess a reno- 
vating elixir, and to promise, to those who would dwell 
by their banks and disport in their waters, a restoration of 
youthful vigor and energy. 

Ponce de Leon, on leaving Florida, again searched for 
the renowned island Bimini, but with no better success 
than before, and thence returned to Porto Rico, putting 
the best face on the matter, and determined to gain what- 
ever credit might attach to his discovery of a new region 
of country; doubtless to enhance its importance, he made 
a flattering report of its riches and value. The purpose of 
his expedition had in the mean time become widely known, 
and the wits of the Spanish court rallied him not a little 
upon his pursuit of the Fountain of Youth. 

He sought for, and obtained, however, from the crown, 
the title and privileges, whatever they might be worth, 
of Adelantado of Florida, agreeing to transport thither 
three hundred men, and to conquer and colonize it for his 
Majesty. He was to commence his enterprise within one 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



19 



year, and to explore the country within three years. He 
did not appear, however, to be in any haste to revisit it, 
and accepted the command of an expedition against the 
Canto Indians, in which he was unsuccessfuL 

In the mean time, in the year 15 16, Diego Miruelo, a 
pilot, sailed from Cuba with a single vessel, and, directing 
his course to Florida, obtained from some of the natives he 
encountered, pieces of gold, but without much exploration 
returned to Cuba, where he gave most glowing accounts of 
the richness of tlmt country and its neighboring islands, 
and excited the wish among a large number of persons to 
undertake an expedition to its shores. 

In the following year an expedition landed in Florida 
from a vessel commanded by Fernandez de Cordova. 
Bernal Diaz, afterwards so well known in connection with 
the conquest of Mexico, accompanied this party. Al- 
though they placed sentinels upon their landing, and took 
every precaution against surprise, they were unexpectedly 
attacked by a large body of natives, who wounded six and 
killed one of their number. The attack was made so vig- 
orously that the Spaniards escaped with difficulty to their 
vessel, and were glad to return to Cuba, where their leader 
died of his wounds. 

One Anton de Alaminos was of this party, and, upon his 
arrival in Cuba, undertook to make a full report of what 
he had observed upon the coasts of New Spain and Florida, 
to the governor of Jamaica, Don Francisco de Garay, 
giving a glowing account of the extent and riches of those 
regions. 

De Garay gave such encouragement to Alaminos that he 
went with three vessels to the coast of Florida, landed 
twice upon its shores, and was each time forced by the 
Indians to re-embark, and, pursuing his voyage, coasted the 
Mexican Gulf as far as the river Panuco. His patron, 



20 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

assured of the truth of the representations he had made, 
applied to the Spanish crown for the Adelantadoship and 
government of the country. As no further action was had 
by De Garay, it is presumable that he did not succeed in 
his application. 

Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, an officer of some distinction, 
holding several profitable employments in Hispaniola, and, 
as a consequence, very rich, formed a company on joint 
venture, in 1520, with six of his neighbors, having for its 
principal object the procuring slaves from among the 
Caribs, to work the mines of that island. The capture 
of these Caribs was an ingenious device of the settlers to 
replenish their supply of labor, which their hard usage of 
the natives had much diminished. The remonstrances and 
efforts of Las Casas had induced the Spanish court to issue 
decrees calculated to insure better treatment ; but it was 
found that the inhabitants of some of the islands were 
entirely impracticable, and the story was started that these 
Caribs were cannibals, and they were thus placed beyond 
the pale of humanity; so that it was not difficult to exclude 
them from the benefit of the humane laws framed to re- 
press the rapacity and cruelty of the colonists. Of course, 
if it was deemed necessary to obtain labor, nothing was 
easier than to discover an island of Caribs. 

De Ayllon made his preparations for a descent upon the 
inhabitants of the Lucayan Isles, a quiet and inoffensive 
people, among whom Columbus had first landed, and from 
whom he had received every mark of unsophisticated kind- 
ness; but they happened to be near at hand, and some one 
could be found to declare that they were Caribs and can- 
nibals, if it was the interest of others to have it so. 

For the purpose of this expedition, De Ayllon fitted out 
tv/o vessels, and made sail for these islands. Unsuccessful 
in entrapping the natives, and driven off by severe weather, 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 21 

he passed to the northward, and came to the land of Chi- 
cora, on the coast of South Carolina. 

Of this wonderful land, two remarkable things are re- 
lated with much gravity by the ancient chronicler. They 
say he reports that the royal personages of Xapida, a 
neighboring province, were giants, made so artificially. 
The mode in which this was accomplished was as follows: 
While in tender infancy, certain Indian masters of the 
art took the young prince and princess, and softened their 
bones like wax, with plasters made of certain herbs, until 
they left them lifeless in appearance. The nurse who 
suckled the children was fed with very nutritious food. 
After some days, the professors in charge of the matter 
returned and stretched the bones of the infants, and did 
the same with the nurse, until they had arrived at such a 
stage of progress as would enable them to increase more 
than any others in stature, according to their experience 
in such matters. Others say, upon the authority of the 
Indians, that they grew so large because they were fed 
upon such rare and efficacious herbs that their growth was 
forced. This wonderful art may be considered as one of 
those lost of old, and these rare and curious plants are no 
longer known, even to the weird sisters. 

Another remarkable thing, which De Ayllon learned 
upon this expedition, was the existence of a race of beings 
with a caudal appendage, similar to that of the equine race, 
which was whisked about with great vigor. The diet of 
these singular beings was raw fish. 

Subsequent explorers seem never to have encountered 
these races, unless Gulliver's visit to the Houyhnhnms 
be considered as authentic history. Such are the mixed 
creations of the imagination, interspersed with realities, 
which characterize the relations of the early voyagers. 

De Ayllon landed at various points, and received only 



22 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

kindness at the hands of the natives. By gifts and pro- 
testations of friendship, he enticed some one hundred and 
thirty of them on board his vessels, and set sail for His- 
paniola. 

So sudden and treacherous an act struck his captives 
with amazement, and aroused their fierce indignation ; no 
kindness or attention could reconcile them to their fate, 
and no artifice could divert the minds of the proud and 
high-spirited sons of Chicora from their grief and proud 
despair. They were of a different race and spirit from 
the natives of the Antilles, and would not submit to the 
restraints sought to be placed upon them. They were of 
an unconquerable spirit, and their successors upon the soil 
of Chicora, the gallant sons of Carolina, have vindicated 
their claim to be considered their descendants, in their 
spirit of independence and bold assertion of their rights 
and liberties. 

One of the two vessels foundered at sea, and went down 
with all on board. The other arrived in Hispaniola; but 
De Ayllon was severely censured for the artifices used to 
entrap the people of Chicora; and the final history and 
result of the expedition are thus briefly and pointedly told : 
^^y los Indios 7io sirvieroJi de nada,porqiLe casitodos murieron 
de enejoy tristecay (These Indians profited them nothing, 
because they all died of care and grief.) 

Some years had now elapsed since the veteran Juan 
Ponce de Leon had obtained the title and privileges of 
Adelantado of Florida and Bimini ; but, discouraged by 
the reception which he had met with at the hands of the 
warlike Floridians, and by the ill success which he had 
encountered in his attempts to chastise the Caribs, he had 
remained inactive in his alcaldeship of the town of Porto 
Rico, yet not unobservant of the reports brought by the 
various expeditions which had, in the mean while, visited 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



23 



the shores of Florida. The voyages of Miruelos and 
Alaminos in the Gulf of Mexico, and of De Ayllon on 
the Atlantic coast, had proved that Florida was not, as he 
had supposed, an island, but a continent of illimitable 
extent, and of greater richness and value than his own 
observation had led him to believe. 

His ambition and his avarice were again aroused, and he 
looked forward with renewed hope, not to finding his 
Fountain of Youth, but to founding an empire which should 
give to his name an enduring celebrity. During the year 
15 21 he concluded' his arrangements for another expe- 
dition to Florida: Cortez had commenced his wonderful 
enterprise of effecting the conquest of Mexico two years 
previously, and the reports of his exploits had doubtless 
reached the sturdy Ponce de Leon and infused into his 
veins new ardor to undertake a similar enterprise. He 
fitted out two vessels at his own expense, and absorbed his 
entire fortune in his outfit. He reached Florida, after 
severe storms at sea, and landed on the nearest shore, eager 
to anticipate all others in planting his standard on the soil 
of his Adelantadoship. Doubtless his first act, upon land- 
ing, was to cause his notary to make proclamation of his 
sovereignty and right to the allegiance of the natives, as 
their governor-general, and to require their obedience, as 
was the custom of the great captains in those days. The 
answer of his liege subjects on this occasion was of a most 
unsatisfactory character, for they attacked his forces with the 
utmost fierceness and impetuosity, killing great numbers of 
the Spaniards, and wounding the governor himself severely, 
forcing them to retreat precipitately to their ships and to 
leave their coasts. 

Ponce de Leon, grievously wounded and sick at heart, 
and doubtless depressed at the apparent ill fortune which 
seemed to attend all the enterprises of his declining years. 



24 



HISTOR Y OF FL OR IDA. 



and, perhaps, believing, with the superstitious feeling of 
his countrymen, that some malignant fate overshadowed 
his destiny, rankling with pain of both head and heart, 
succumbed to the adverse winds of fortune, abandoned the 
shores of Florida, and the prospective honors before him, 
and sailed to the neighboring coast of Cuba, where, after 
a few days, he died, regretted and honored by many who 
had known the bold and adventurous cavalier in his earlier 
years. This simple epitaph was inscribed on his monu- 
ment : — * 

Mole sub hoc fortis 

Requiescunt ossa Leonis 

Qui vicit factis 

Nomina magna suis. 

Which was rendered into Spanish by Castellano, as fol- 
lows: — 

Aquesto lugar estrecho 

Es sepulcro del varon 

Que en el nonibre fue Leon 

Y mucho mas en el hecho.f 

Ponce de Leon left a son named Louis, upon whom the 
emperor conferred the Adelantadoship and honors of his 
father. It does not appear, however, that he ever made 
any use of his privileges, or attempted to carry out the de- 
signs of his father ; and he is heard of no more in connection 
with the history of Florida. 

Of all the historic names associated with its long history, 
De Soto alone perhaps excepted, the name of Ponce de 
Leon stands out more prominently than "any other : the 
romantic character of his expedition has won 'for him a 

■^ Irving's Spanish Voyages of Discovery. 

f In this sepulchre rest the bones of a man who was a Lion by name 
and still more by nature. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 25 

name and a remembrance which the real importance of 
anything he attempted or accomplished, in that or any 
other quarter, would have failed to give him — so true it is 
that the folly or credulity of mankind often makes more 
impression upon the public mind than distinguished vir- 
tues. 

In the mean time, De Ayllon, not discouraged by the 
profitless results of his abduction of the natives of Chicora, 
and trusting, by renewed effort, to make an advantageous 
lodgment upon that coast, proceeded first to Spain, taking 
with him one of the natives of Chicora, named Francisco, 
a captive whom he had instructed in the faith and language [/ 
of the Spaniards. Having presented himself at court, De 
Ayllon related to the ministers of the crown the events 
of the voyage he had undertaken to Chicora, described the 
situation of the country, its fruits and productions, as well 
as the manners and customs of its inhabitants, and sought 
the privilege of its conquest and settlement. This was 
granted, with the additional honor of being created a 
Knight of the Order of St. lago. 

The agreement entered into between the king and De 
Ayllon contained, however, a special article, which for- 
bade the subjection of the natives, or the granting of 
repartimientos, which, up to that period, had been usually 
given, and had been deemed a necessary privilege granted 
to the Royal Adelantados and conquerors. This clause 
was probably due to the untiring efforts of Las Casas to 
ameliorate the condition of the poor natives, and may also 
have had some reference to the previous foray of De Ayllon 
upon the people of Chicora. It is an interesting fact in 
this connection that a greater amount of consideration 
was accorded to the natives of the mainland of our own 
section of country, than to the people of the islands which 
the Spaniards had occupied. By the tenor of the Royal 

3 



26 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

Assiento with De Ayllon, the natives of Florida were to 
be treated as freedmen and vassals, and to receive com- 
pensation for their labor. 

Owing to delays in making his preparations, it was not 
until 1524 that De Ayllon was enabled, in conformity with 
his agreement, to dispatch two vessels to begin the explo- 
ration of that portion of the mainland embraced within his 
contract, which was from the 35th to the 37th degree of N. 
latitude. These vessels soon returned, bringing specimens 
of gold, silver, and pearls, and with so favorable a report 
of the country which they had visited, that De Ayllon de- 
termined to set out at once and take possession of his prov- 
ince of Chicora. He refitted the two vessels which had 
just returned, and, adding a third, again set sail, and safely 
reached his destination. Choosing a favorable point for 
landing, with the view of establishing a settlement, he dis- 
embarked, and was received by the natives with affected 
cordiality and pleasure, and this was carried to such an ex- 
tent as to disarm him of all suspicion. He at once con- 
cluded that his design would readily be accomplished, and 
congratulated himself upon the ease and dexterity with 
which he had glided into his government. For the purpose 
of exploring the country, he dispatched a party of two 
hundred men to visit a town a day's journey from the coast. 
This party was hospitably entertained and feasted by the 
natives for four days, and all precautions on the part of the 
Spaniards being laid aside, they were suddenly set upon, 
and the whole company destroyed, not one being left to 
carry to De Ayllon the news of the disaster. A vigorous 
attack was then made upon those who had remained in 
charge of the ships, who, getting on board with much dif- 
ficulty, made sail. 

It is said that De Ayllon himself perished in this massa- 
cre, and shared in the terrible retribution which was vis- 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 27 

ited upon the expedition, on account of the duplicity and 
treachery of which De Ayllon had been guilty upon his 
first expedition. The son of De Ayllon sought of the 
crown the rights and privileges of his father, which were 
granted to him; but, being unable to equip an expedition, 
he died in Spain, it is said, of melancholy, in consequence 
of his disappointment. 

About this period, Juan Verazzano, an Italian navigator 
in the French service, came upon the coast of North. Amer- 
ica in about latitude 35°, landed at various points as he 
coasted northward, enjoying the most friendly intercourse 
with the natives, and coasted as far north as Cape Cod. He 
returned thence to France, and gave a brief account of his 
voyage and of the manners, customs, and appearance of 
the different tribes of Indians whom he from time to time 
encountered at different points on the coast. He made a 
second voyage to America, and was never again heard of, 
having perished probably at sea.* 

Public attention in Spain and the islands was now di- 
rected for many years to the progress of events in Mexico, 
where Cortez was prosecuting his successful career of con- 
quest, surpassing in the brilliancy of his deeds all that had 
hitherto been accomplished upon the shores of America, 
and giving a new stimulus to the love for adventure in all 
classes. 

From the success of Cortez, it seemed probable to the 
public mind that in the interior of both North and South 
America regions existed of great fertility, and abounding 
in gold, silver, and pearls, only requiring the stout arm and 
brave heart of a Cortez to give to whomsoever should dis- 
cover them the like rewards. 

An expedition for the conquest and settlement of Florida 

* Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 295. 



28 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

was about to be undertaken upon a much larger scale, and 
under fairer auspices, than those which had preceded it. 

It was hoped that a new empire would be conquered, 
north and east of Mexico, in an indefinitely located region 
described as lying between the River of Palms (near Tam- 
pico) and the limits of Florida, which latter was, in those 
days, a general designation of the countries bordering upon 
the Atlantic. 

This long shore-line, from the Capes of Labrador south- 
ward to the Gulf of Mexico, was claimed at a subsequent 
period by two different parties, with about equal justice. 
The discovery of Florida by Ponce de Leon was considered 
by the Spanish crown as establishing their prior claim and 
right of dominion over the whole coast, while the English 
fell back upon the voyage of Cabot in 1497, and the view 
he obtained of the coast, as establishing theirs. Subse- 
quently France, as a third party, interposed the much 
stronger claim of actual occupation to much of the country. 



CHAPTER II. 

Expedition and Shipwreck of Panfilo de Narvaez, and Adventures of 
Cabe9a de Vaca, the Discoverer of the Mississippi. 

1527. 

Those familiar with the history of the conquest of Mexico 
will recollect that after the successful march of Cortez upon 
the city of Mexico, and his occupation of the capital of 
the Aztec Empire, Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, under 
whose orders he had originally commenced the enterprise, 
became jealous of the success and position of Cortez, and 
sent his lieutenant, Panfilo de Narvaez, to supersede the 
daring adventurer. 

The gallant and astute conqueror of Mexico felt no dis- 
position to have his laurels thus plucked from him, and 
although Narvaez had brought with him a force of nine 
hundred Spaniards and one thousand Indians of Cuba, while 
Cortez had less than three hundred at his command, yet he 
determined, by a sudden and bold attack, to seize his rival 
and frustrate his intentions. His plan, favored by a stormy 
night, during which his opponents slept in fancied security, 
was entirely successful. Narvaez was taken prisoner, having 
lost an eye in the melee, and his forces submitted willingly, 
for the most part, to the leadership of the gallant Hernan 
Cortez. 

Narvaez appears to have been a leader of some military 
capacity, although negligent and lax in his discipline. He 

3* (29) 



30 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

possessed undoubted courage, but this quality was rendered 
nugatory by an overweening confidence in his own powers, 
which made him deaf to the suggestions of others more 
sagacious than himself. He was altogether deficient in that 
prudent and calculating foresight demanded in a leader who 
has to travel out of the beaten track, face unforeseen ob- 
stacles and an active and enterprising foe. 

Disappointed and crestfallen, after his release by Cortez, 
Narvaez returned to Spain, and endeavored to obtain re- 
dress at court, but his sagacious opponent had already ren- 
dered his own version of the affair, and had vindicated 
himself from the charge of disloyalty to the crown, while 
the lustre and interest attached to the report of his memor- 
able adventures in the subjugation of the Mexican capital 
effaced all the detractions which had been so industriously 
sent home by his rival. 

Failing to enlist any sympathy in his complaints against 
Cortez, Narvaez next turned his attention to getting up 
some new expedition, and asked the authority of the crown 
to undertake the conquest of Florida, with the title of Ade- 
lantado of all the regions which he might discover and 
conquer within certain limits. Hitherto the march of the 
Spanish explorers in America had, with few exceptions, been 
unchecked, and the path of discovery had become the road 
to successful conquest. Mexico, Panama, and the Spanish 
Main, as well as most of the islands in the Caribbean Sea, 
had submitted to the Spanish rule, and a mere handful of 
Spaniards had sufficed to rout thousands of defenseless 
natives. The native was consequently despised, and suc- 
cessful resistance was never anticipated. 

Duly commissioned to conquer and govern the provinces 
of the mainland, extending from the River of Palms (near 
Tampico) to Cape Florida, Narvaez left the port of San 
Lucar, in Spain, on the 17th of June, 1527, with five ves- 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 31 

sels, carrying six hundred men. He stopped at Hispaniola, 
with the purpose of refitting and provisioning his vessels. 
While thus delayed, one hundred and forty of his men 
withdrew from the enterprise, preferring to remain in St. 
Domingo. After a sojourn of forty-five days, the vessels 
sailed to the port of St. lago, in Cuba, and there made 
arrangements for procuring provisions, which he found he 
could obtain at Trinidad, a port a hundred leagues to the 
west. He dispatched two of his vessels to that point, where 
they were overtaken by a hurricane, and totally destroyed, 
with all on board, some seventy souls. Owing to this dis- 
aster, he was compelled to defer his expedition until the 
spring. He purchased other vessels to supply the place of 
those which had been wrecked, and found some additional 
followers to accompany him. 

He finally embarked in April, 1528, with a company of 
four hundred men-at-arms and eighty horses, under the 
pilotage of Miruelo, before mentioned, who claimed to be 
familiar with the coast. They made land on the 12th of 
April, and on Holy Thursday, the 14th of April, they an- 
chored near the shore, in the mouth of a bay which is con- 
jectured to have been Clear Water Bay,* just north of that 
now known as Tampa Bay, but a long time known by its 
Spanish designation of the Bay of Espiritu Santo. The 
expedition had unwittingly passed the entrance of the la.rger 
bay, and supposed themselves to be still south of it. This 
error led to most fatal consequences. 

At the head of the bay in which they had anchored they 
saw Indian houses, one of which is said to have been very 
large, and of sufficient capacity to hold more than three 
hundred persons. On Good-Friday, a day of bad omen 
for the expedition, the governor took formal possession of 

* Buckingham Smith's Notes to Letter of De Soto, 1854. 



32 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

the country in the name of his Catholic Majesty, and as- 
sumed the government of the province. 
. The natives received them with a bold fearlessness, yet 
not in an unfriendly manner, but at once made signs to 
them to go back to their ships. Upon a consultation of 
the principal officers, and, as De Vaca* says, against his 
decided opposition, it was determined to march along the 
coast to the large bay which their pilot had spoken of, 
and that the vessels should coast along to the bay and 
await them there. It was an unwise determination ; but 
they had barely escaped shipwreck on their voyage, were 
weary of the sea, and anxious to try their fortunes on land. 
An exploring party had met some of the natives wearing 
gold ornaments. Inquiring by signs of the Indians as to 
where they obtained this precious metal, they pointed 
northward, and gave the name of Abalachie, and indicated 
that there was an abundance of it to be had there, and 
that it was a province a long way off. The Indians told 
them truly, and meant the head-waters of the Apalachee 
River, in the gold regions of Upper Georgia; but as the 
name of Apalachee attached to the whole course of the 
river, and there were Apalachian villages near the Gulf 
coast, they were misled by their Indian guides, whom 
they forced to accompany them. In an exploration, before 
starting, they had come to the shore of the Bay of Espiritu 
Santo, but were not aware that it was the bay of which 
they were in search. 

One hundred men remained on board the vessels, which 
were placed under the command of one Caravallo. The 
remainder, numbering some three hundred, with forty 
horses, which remained out of the eighty put on board, 
constituted the land expedition. They seem to have 

* Cabe9a de Vaca, Relacion, p 31, Valladolid, 1555, Paris, 1837. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 33 

brought but a scanty supply of provisions with them, as 
the allowance on which they commenced their march 
amounted to but two pounds of bread and half a pound 
of meat to each man. On this scanty provision they 
marched fifteen days, without seeing a village, a house, or 
a single living soul. They then came to a river, which 
was probably the Withlacoochee, on the banks of which 
they were met by twelve hundred Indians, who conducted 
them to their village, which was near by. 

A party was sent to the seashore, which they were told 
was not far distant, to look out for the ships ; they found 
a shoal, marshy, and sandy shore, but no appearance of the 
bay or their ships, and returned next day. Uncertain as to 
any point where they could meet their vessels, they de- 
termined to proceed to Apalachee, where they might find 
the treasures they were in quest of. Resuming their march, 
they came to a river of considerable size and rapid current, 
which they crossed with difficulty. This was doubtless 
the Suwanee, and it is likely they crossed it some distance 
from the coast. After passing this river, they encountered 
much opposition from the Indians, and their guides led 
them through a most difficult country, much obstructed 
with the trunks of fallen trees of large size. They had 
occasionally in their march found fields of maize, but 
were now seven or eight days at a time without seeing 
any signs of cultivation. As no mention is made of cross- 
ing the Santa Fe River, they must have passed over 
the Natural Bridge, or at some point below its junction 
with the Suwanee. From the Suwanee they marched seven 
days, and reached the neighborhood of what was repre- 
sented to them as the Apalachee they were in quest of. 
Narvaez and his companions seemed to have anticipated 
that this famed Apalachee was almost a second Mexico, 
where they were to receive the reward of all the privations 



34 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



and sufferings they had previously endured ; but, much to 
their disappointment, they found only a petty Indian town, 
of some forty small cabins, made of thatch and built close 
to the ground. 

The country through which they had passed is described 
as level, the soil sandy but firm, the trees large, and con- 
sisting of gum, cedar, oak, pine, and palms, with much 
fallen timber, and with numerous lakes. Maize was culti- 
vated by the natives, and the country was said to abound 
in deer, rabbits, hares, bears, lions, and kangaroos.'^ The 
lions and kangaroos must have been exterminated since 
then, as none have been found by subsequent explorers. 
Falcons, gerfalcons, sparrow-hawks, merlins, and other 
birds are mentioned. By the name of falcon and ger- 
falcon they probably meant the chicken-hawk. 

The town of Apalachee visited by them, it is supposed, 
was not the principal Indian town, but a small village 
of the Apalachees. De Soto's expedition took up their 
quarters in a village called Anhayea, which is said to have 
contained two hundred and fifty houses, f ancj the location 
of which is believed to have been near Tallahassee, and the 
existence of numerous towns of fifty or sixty houses is 
spoken of. 

The town called Apalachee by De VacaJ was situated 
on a lake, and there was another village across the lake, 
which was possibly Miccasukie Lake. 

The Spaniards remained at this Indian town of Apala- 
chee for about a month, a grievous infliction, no doubt, 
upon the natives, who kept up a continued state of warfare, 
and discouraged them greatly as to the nature and re- 

* Cabe^a de Vaca. 

f L'Inca, Hist, de Florida, p. 74. 

X Cabe9a de Vaca, p. 50. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



35 



sources of the country, telling them that there were few 
people in it, and that it was poor and sterile; but that 
nine days' journey towards the sea there was a town called 
Aute or Haute, abounding in corn, squashes, and gourds, 
and well supplied with fish, being near the sea. 

Narvaez exhibited no enterprise in exploring the country 
around him, but remained supinely in Apalachee with his 
whole force of three hundred men, without an effort to 
penetrate farther or to verify the accuracy of the accounts 
the Indians gave him. He was really in the midst of a 
rich, populous, and abundant country, but was incompetent 
for the position of a leader. 

Following the interested advice of the Indians, he set 
out for Aute. His march was contested at every step by the 
Indians, who, from behind trees and ambuscades, dis- 
charged showers of arrows, and eluded all pursuit. Some 
of the Spaniards were willing to make oath that the force 
with which the Indians discharged their arrows was so great, 
that they had seen red oaks, as thick as the calf of a man's 
leg, shot through and through ; and the narrator adds that 
this is nothing wonderful, for he himself had seen an arrow 
driven into an elm a span in depth. He says, further, that 
these Apalachee Indians were of such great stature, that 
at a distance they appeared to be gia?its, men of fine pro- 
portions, very tall, and of very great strength, and dis- 
charged their arrows with great force from bows eight feet 
in length, with entire precision at a distance of two hundred 
yards. 

After nine days of constant molestation, the forces of 
Narvaez reached Aute, but the inhabitants, doubtless ap- 
prised of their approach, had abandoned their village and 
burned their dwellings. They had on their journey passed 
a river which they called Magdalena, and which was prob- 
ably the Choctawhatchee. 



36 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



Aute was one day's journey from an entrance to the sea, 
and has been by some supposed to have been located near 
St. Mark's; but the probabilities are that it was near the 
Bay of Apalachicola.* 

Finding the town destroyed, and neither corn nor pump- 
kins, they were consoled by being able to procure an 
abundance of fish and oysters, but they were not allowed 
to rest in peace ; whenever they went out they were way- 
laid, and could not leave their camp without danger. The 
wearied Spaniards, with insufficient food, kept in constant 
apprehension by the assaults of the natives, and unaccus- 
tomed to the country, were subjected to the miasma of the 
lowlands about them, now, in August, becoming noxious, 
and soon began to be prostrated by fevers. 

The alluring hopes which had led them on to Apalachee, 
and thence to Aute, had now no further basis to rest upon. 
The gold and abundance which was to reward them at 
Apalachee had not been found, and the plenty which was 
to await them at Aute had vanished. Their dreams of the 
conquest and spoils of a barbarous and wealthy people like 
that of Mexico and Peru were miserably dissipated ; they 
had now no further hope than self-preservation, or desire 
except to leave the country. Their vessels they had never 
heard of; sickness was daily thinning their ranks and less- 
ening their ability to proceed farther, or even to defend 
themselves where they were. Theirs was indeed a pitiful 
case, destitute alike of resources for ren aining in, or means 
of leaving, these fatal shores. 

The reflections of Narvaez, as he wearily and wistfully 
looked over the expanse of sea stretching towards Cuba 
and the Spanish possessions, must have been painful indeed, 
as he recalled with bitterness the bright hopes with which 

* De Vaca, p. 66. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



37 



he had set out from Cuba, empowered, as the lieutenant of 
the powerful Governor Velasquez, to wrest from Cortez the 
wealth and magnificence of Mexico, and vested with almost 
vice-regal powers, to play the sovereign of a great empire ; 
then his inglorious defeat, and the renewed hopes with 
which he set out with a larger force to establish in Florida, 
as he believed, a government more than equal to that of 
Mexico ; and now to find himself a wanderer, cut off from 
even the knowledge of his countrymen, hemmed in by 
cruel and relentless foes, faint with sickness and dis- 
couraged by disappointment, a miserable, defeated, and 
helpless man. 

Utterly dispirited, he called a council of his followers, to 
consider how they could escape from the country before 
they all perished of disease and hunger. Their determina- 
tion, as indeed they could have come to no other, was to 
construct boats, and endeavor to reach the coasts of Cuba 
or Mexico. This seemed almost a hopeless undertaking; 
they had no ship-carpenters, nor any materials to build 
with, but they had the energy of desperation and the in- 
cital of hope. A smith of the company said he could 
make bellows from deer-skins, and would forge the neces- 
sary bolts, nails, etc. from their swords, arms, and equip- 
ments.* This he immediately put into execution. Others 
cut timber and hewed it into shape ; others gathered pal- 
mettos and made a substitute for tow for the caulking of 
the seams. Such ^v?S the diligence of despair, that, with but 
one single carpenter, they completed within six weeks five 
boats one hundred and thirty feet in length. They made 
cordage from the fibre of the palmetto, and from the tails 
and manes of the horses ; the sails they made from their 



■^' Cabe9a de Vuca, p. 66. 
4 



38 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



clothing, and out of the hides of their horses they made 
bottles to carry water. 

During their stay at Aute, they lost ten men, who were 
killed while seeking provisions, and forty had died from 
disease, leaving two hundred and forty to embark in the 
boats. They embarked on the 2 2d of September, 1528, 
having killed their remaining horses to furnish themselves 
with meat. Narvaez commanded the first boat ; the second 
was in charge of Enriquez, the Controller, and Juan Suarez, 
the Commissary ; in the third went Captains Castillo and 
Dorantes; in the fourth. Captains Tellezand Penalosa; and 
in the fifth, Cabe^a de Vaca, each boat carrying about 
forty-eight men. 

After the provisions and clothing had been put on board, 
their gunwales, it is said, were not more than six inches 
out of water, and they were so crowded they could hardly 
move. "So much," says the narrator,* " can necessity do, 
which drove us to hazard our lives in this manner, running 
into a sea so turbulent, with not a single one of the party 
having a knowledge of navigation." 

It was indeed a most desperate undertaking for these 
tv\^o hundred and forty famished, sick, and down-hearted 
men, to launch upon an unknown and, at that season, 
stormy sea, with no knowledge of navigation, and scantily 
provisioned, in wretched, hastily- built boats, loaded down 
to the gunwales, and open to every swell of the sea. How 
different from their disembarkation a few months before, in 
the Bay of the True Cross, when, with banners displayed, 
and the sound of trumpets, they formally took possession 
of the country from which it was now their chief anxiety 
to escape ! 

They named the bay upon which they launched their 

* Cabe9a de Vaca, p. 68. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



39 



boats, the Bay of Cavallos, and their embarkation was 
probably from the head of the Bay of Apalachicola, as the 
boats were some days in reaching the Gulf of Mexico, and 
the water is said to have been shallow. When De Soto's 
expedition visited the country, eleven years afterwards, the 
Indians conducted them to the spot, where they saw the 
traces of Narvaez's camp, the forge used in making the 
spikes, scraps of iron, and the bones of the horses, and 
their guide pointed out to them where the ten Spaniards 
had been killed in the neighborhood of Aute.* 

For several days the boats kept within the sound, and 
went out to sea at a pass which was probably that now 
known as Indian Pass, formed by St. Vincent's Island and 
the main. They then sailed westward along the coast in 
quest of the River of Palms. 

The question naturally suggests itself, as to the motive 
which induced them to go westwardly to seek a port mor e 
than a thousand miles distant, when it would seem to 
have been so much more rational to try to regain the 
shores of Cuba, not more than four or five hundred miles 
distant. The real reason lay in their ignorance of the true 
position of the port which they wished to reach. The River 
of Palms is located on the old maps in the neighborhood 
of Tampico, and Panuco was the most northerly of the 
settlements occupied by the Spaniards on the coast of 
Mexico. The position of Florida, in reference to Mexico, 
was long misapprehended, and Narvaez and his companions 
supposed, when they embarked in their boats, that they 
would not have far to proceed before reaching the Spanish 
settlements in Mexico. Upon several ancient maps in 
existence, the Bay of Apalachee is represented as about 
equidistant from the Capes of Florida and the Bay of 

* Historia de I^'Inca, lib. iii. chap. v. 



40 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

Tampico, and De Narvaez and his companions supposed 
it would be safer to coast along to Panuco, rather than 
cross over to Cuba. It is subsequently mentioned that a 
party of four started by land for Panuco, which was be- 
lieved to be near, and, later, Esquivel refused to join De 
Vaca in an effort to reach Mexico, because he had under- 
stood from the friars in the expedition that Panuco had 
been already passed. Panuco was, in fact, twelve hundred 
miles distant from the Bay of Apalachee. Had they turned 
to the south and east, they could have coasted along Florida, 
often protected by islands, and procured fish and oysters in 
abundance, and would have been, when they reached the 
Tortugas, in the track of vessels going to Mexico. The 
remnant of De Soto's expedition, with better fortune, coasted 
westwardly from the mouth of the Mississippi, until they 
reached in safety the Spanish settlements in Mexico. 

After passing into the Gulf, Narvaez and his followers 
coasted westwardly along the shore, and soon began to 
suffer from hunger and thirst, and were in constant danger 
of shipwreck. They occasionally ran into the coves and 
creeks, and sometimes encountered Indians engaged in 
fishing. Entering St. Joseph's Bay, they landed, and were 
hospitably received by an Indian chief, but in the night 
were attacked by the Indians. In the melee, they took 
from the chief his blanket, which was made of the skins 
of the civet-marten ; with this other chiefs were occa- 
sionally seen decorated. Afterwards they landed upon an 
island, which appears to have been the island of Santa 
Rosa. Here their boats got aground, and they nearly 
perished from cold and hunger. The natives of this place 
treated them with great kindness, supplying them with fish 
and a kind of root which was like a walnut in size and 
obtained from under the water with much labor. 

De Vaca's party, attempting to get their boat off in 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 4, 

order to re-embark, lost three of their number, who were 
drowned by the boat capsizing, one of whom was Alonzo 
de Salis, the Assessor. The sympathy of the Indians was 
much excited on their behalf, and every assistance in their 
power was freely given. By this disaster they lost their 
boat and all their clothing, and suffered severely from the 
cold winds of November. The boat of Captains Dorantes 
and Castillo was also wrecked on this island. The Span- 
iards soon exhausted the small amount of provisions fur- 
nished by the Indians, and were reduced to such extremity 
that they lived on the bodies of such as died, and in a 
short time, of eighty souls who had come in the two boats, 
but fifteen remained alive.* The fate of those who were in 
the other three boats was equally disastrous. The boat of 
Enriquez the Controller and Juan Suarez was wrecked near 
Pensacola Bay, and they proceeded along the shore to the 
Perdido, across which they were carried by the governor's 
boat. Afterwards, the rest of his men having gone on 
shore, Narvaez persisted in remaining on board, having 
w^ith him only the cockswain and a lad, and having on board 
neither provisions nor water. At midnight the wind arose 
off shore, and his boat, being anchored with only a stone, 
was driven to sea, and nothing more was ever heard of this 
renowned Captain-General and Adelantado of Florida, 
Panfilo de Narvaez. 

The survivors of these two boats, some ninety in number, 
gradually died from hunger and starvation, the living sub- 
sisting upon the dried flesh of their comrades, endeavoring 
to prolong their own existence until they too succumbed 
to their fate. 

The fifth and last boat, that of Captains Tellez and Pena- 



* C.msidering the abundance of fish and oysters in that vicinity, this 
statement is remarkable. 



42 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



losa, continued on across Mobile Bay, and as far as Pass 
Christian, where they landed among a people called the 
Camones, and, according to the report given to De Vaca 
by the Indians, were all killed by the natives, having become 
so feeble that they could offer no resistance.* 

Of the three hundred who started on the land march 
from the Bay of the True Cross with Narvaez, but four are 
known to have escaped. These were Cabega de Vaca, the 
Treasurer, Captain Alonzo Castillo, Captain Andreas Do- 
rantes, and Estevanico, an Arabian negro or Moor. Juan 
Ortiz, who was found among the Indians by De Soto, and 
was his interpreter, was decoyed on shore from one of the 
vessels after Narvaez had begun his march. 

When Narvaez began his land march, he left three vessels 
in the bay, with one hundred men and ten women on board, 
and with a very small amount of stores. These vessels 
were to have sailed along the coast, as near the shore as 
possible, and to enter the best port they could find and there 
await Narvaez. They accordingly followed the coast for 
some distance without finding any harbor, and then sailed 
to the southward, and five or six leagues below where they 
had landed on their arrival they found a bay which pene- 
trated into the land seven or eight leagues. Two of the 
vessels continued the search for Narvaez for nearly a year, 
and then sailed to Mexico. 

It is a curious circumstance that a woman who was on 
board one of the vessels had, before they began their march, 
predicted to Narvaez all the misfortunes which befell the 
party; he assumed to place little faith in the revelation, 
but doubtless, in so credulous an age, was depressed and 
dispirited by it.f 

The survivors, Cabega de Vaca and the others, owed 

* Cabe?a de Vaca, p. 155. f Ibid,, p. 296. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 43 

their preservation to an idea which the Indians entertained 
that they were skilled in the healing art, and they were 
soon installed as great medicine-men. They rather hesi- 
tated at first about assuming the responsibilities of a pro- 
fession of which they were entirely ignorant ; but the In- 
dians insisted on their practicing, and their success exceeded 
their anticipations. De Vaca thus describes their modus 
operandi, and it may be considered quite as rational as 
many systems now in vogue. He says, the custom of the 
Indians was, upon finding themselves sick, to send for a 
physician, and after the cure they gave him not only every- 
thing they themselves owned, but sought among their rela- 
tives for more to add to the gift, in order to evince their 
gratitude. 

The medicine-man was also privileged to have two wives 
instead of one. De Vaca's style of practice was, to ''bless 
the sick, breathe upon them, recite a Paternoster and an 
Ave Maria, praying with all earnestness to God our Lord 
that he would give them health and influence them to do 
us some great good, in his mercy;" and he piously says 
that "He willed that all those for whom we supplicated 
should, directly after we made the sign of the cross over 
them, tell the others that they were sound and in health."* 

Prior to his advancement to the dignity of a Great 
Medicine, De Vaca engaged in the business of an itinerant 
trader, carrying shells, conchs, etc. from the coast, and 
exchanging them for skins, ochre, flints for arrow-heads, 
and other articles. He went by day entirely without 
clothing, having a covering of deer-skins at night. 

De Vaca remained six years among the coast Indians, 
whom he calls the Mariannes, busily obtaining such in- 
formation as would enable him to find his way back to the 

* Cabe9a de Vaca, p. 162. 



44 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

Spanish settlements. Of a tribe called the Yezagues, he 
says, ''Their support is principally roots, which are very 
bitter, and require two days in roasting. Occasionally 
they kill deer, and at times obtain some fish, but the 
quantity is so small and the famine so great, that they eat 
spiders, the eggs of ants, worms, lizards, salamanders, snakes 
and vipers which are poisonous, and earth and wood;" 
and, says De Vaca, ''if there were stones in that land, I 
verily believe they would eat them.'' The men carried no 
burdens, but devolved all menial and severe labor upon 
the old men and the women : the latter worked hard. 
These Indians, he says, were great thieves, great liars, and 
great drunkards, from the use of a certain liquor. They 
were so accustomed to running that, without rest or fatigue, 
they could follow a deer from morning until night. In this 
way they killed many, for they pursued them until tired 
down, and sometimes overtook them in the chase. Their 
houses were of matting, placed upon four hoops; they car- 
ried them on their backs, and moved every three or four 
days in search of food. They planted nothing, but were a 
very merry people, considering the hunger they suffered, 
and, notwithstanding, never ceased to dance, or to observe 
their festivities. To them the happiest part of the year was 
the season of eating prickly pears, for then they had a season 
of plenty, and could eat their fill, passing their time in 
dancing and eating day and night. They peeled and dried 
them, packing them in baskets like figs. 

Mosquitoes were of three sorts, and all of them abun- 
dant in every part of the country, and their bite poisoned 
and inflamed the body. The Indians used to set the plains 
and the woods within their reach on fire, to drive away the 
mosquitoes, and to drive out lizards ; they also fired the 
woods to drive in the deer, and to attract the cattle to 
young grass. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



45 



It will be seen by this brief statement of Indian customs, 
as given by De Vaca, that some of the usages of the pine- 
barren regions of Florida are inherited from the original 
occupants of the soil. A singular custom is mentioned of 
one tribe, that they suckled their children until twelve 
years old, and the reason given was, that they might not 
suffer in times of scarcity of food. 

At the end of six years, De Vaca, Castillo, Dorantes, 
and Estevanico, having become thoroughly versed in the 
language and customs of the Indians, and, we may suppose, 
by exposure and the use of pigments, coming closely to 
resemble them, determined to carry out their cherished 
purpose of reaching Panuco, in Mexico. 

Leaving the Mariannes at a favorable moment, they 
came to a tribe called the Avavares, and, having effected 
some remarkable cures among them, the medicine-men ac- 
quired an extraordinary reputation, and were considered 
superior beings. As such, they were carried upon their 
journey in great state, by large detachments of Indians, 
and had every want supplied. At times they were accom- 
panied by as many as two or three thousand of the natives. 
They at length came to a large river, where they saw an 
Indian with a sword-buckle, and learned that others had 
seen white men upon the river in boats, and with horses 
upon the land, and at some distance from them came upon 
traces of the presence of Europeans; shortly afterwards 
they encountered a party of Spaniards who had come out 
eastwardly from the Spanish settlements in Mexico. 

Cabe^a de Vaca and his companions, after their long 
sojourn of seven years among the Indians, at length reached 
the abodes of civilized men, and were received with the 
greatest sympathy by the Spanish authorities in Mexico. 
He was enabled to return to Spain, where, upon his arrival, 
he addressed to his Catholic Majesty an interesting narra- 



46 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

tive of his adventures, with observations upon the manners 
and customs of the countries through which he had passed.* 
It appears that he desired to secure the privilege of re- 
turning to Florida and to have the appointment of gov- 
ernor; but other parties of greater position and influence 
were seeking those privileges, and the governorship of La 
Plata was given to De Vaca, who failed to give satisfaction 
in the administration of the government of that country, 
and was sent home in disgrace. His narrative of the ex- 
pedition and shipwreck of Narvaez and of his own personal 
adventures is exceedingly interesting, as containing the 
observations of the first European who traversed the 
region now known as the Cotton States, and the first 
white man who beheld the Mississippi and crossed the 

■^ The following cotemporary notice of his return is found in the 
Relation of De Soto's Expedition, by Alvarez Fernandez, usually 
called the Narrative of the Portuguese Gentleman : — 

" When Dom Fernando had obtained the government, there came a 
gentleman from the Indies to the Court, named Cabeza de Vaca, which 
had been with the Governor Pamphilo de Narvaez, which died in 
Florida, who reported that Narvaez was cast away at sea, with all the 
company y' went with him, and how he with four more escaped and 
arrived in 'Nueva Espana. Also he brought a relation in writing of 
that which he had scene in Florida ; which said in some places, In such 
a place I have scene this, and the rest which here I saw I leave to con- 
ferre of between his Majestic and myselfe. Generally he reported 
the misery of the country and the troubles which he passed, and hee 
told some of his kinsfolke, which were desirous to go into the Indies, 
and urged him very much to tell them whether he had scene any rich 
country in Florida, that he might not tell them, because hee and another 
whose name was Orantes (who remained in Nueva Espana with pur- 
pose to return into Florida) for which intent he came into Spaine to 
beg the government thereof of the Emperor, had sworn not to discover 
some of the things which they had scene, because no man should pre- 
vent them in begging the same, and he informed them that it was the 
richest country of the world." 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



47 



great Father of Waters. The discovery of the Mississippi 
has for a long time been erroneously attributed to De Soto; 
but Cabe^a de Vaca and his companions had rested upon its 
banks years before De Soto set out on his expedition ; and 
upon some high bluff by that wondrous stream should be 
erected a column bearing the simple inscription: — 

Alvar Nunez Cabe^a de Vaca 

IN HOC LOCO PRIMUS OMNIUM EUROP^ORUM FUIT, 
A.D. MDXXXV. 



CHAPTER III. 

Expedition of Hernando de Sotc. 
1539. 

Those who have had occasion to consult the relations of 
the early adventurers who attempted the conquest or coloni- 
zation of Florida, cannot fail to have been struck with the 
fact that the country is eulogized by them all as a very 
rich and fertile country. Thus, in the English translation 
of the relation of the Portuguese Gentleman, by Hakluyt, 
it is said, '' Wherein are truly observed the riches and 
fertilities of these parts, abounding with things necessary, 
pleasant, and profitable for the life of man." And in the 
same work it is said that Cabe^a de Vaca reported, upon 
his return to Spain, '^ that it was the richest country of the 
world." Doubtless to most persons this will seem so ab- 
surd and exaggerated, as to cast discredit upon the veracity 
of the narrator. 

But this flattering estimate of the country by the 
early explorers and voyagers may be explained upon 
grounds perfectly consistent with the idea of sincerity on 
their part. It must be recollected, in the first place, that 
the name of Florida then designated a vast extent of 
country, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico, north- 
westwardly, towards unknown regions. The divisions of 
the country, as marked upon the maps, were Florida at 
the south, extending to the north of the Chesapeake, and 
meeting New France. In speaking of Florida, therefore, 
(48; 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



49 



in those days, reference was had to a much larger scope of 
country than is now designated by the name. v^ 

The main object of all expeditions at that day was the dis- 
covery of precious me'tals, and, coming from the Old World, 
men had no standard of comparison by which to measure 
the agricultural value of the New. The shores of Florida 
presented to their eyes a more grateful and pleasing pros- 
pect than the sands of the Tierra Caliente of Mexico, or 
the swampy, impassable mesquite groves of South America. 

Let us suppose for a moment a vessel, long tempest- 
tossed upon the wild waste of waters, entering one of 
the harbors of Florida. As the shores are approached, 
there opens a gentle and placid bay, land-locked, and re- 
flecting with glassy stillness the shadows of the evergreen 
and towering trees of the forest. The fleeting clouds of 
heaven pass over its polished surface, and changing points 
of beauty are being constantly developed. The white- 
winged water-fowl skim quietly along its surface ; the 
waving moss droops from the hanging boughs; pleasant '' 
coves and sylvan retreats border its banks. 

The appearances upon the land are equally flattering : the 
green grass, even in midwinter, gives a vernal beauty to the 
landscape. 

The evergreen forests, flUed with birds of song and 
beauty, the magnolia grandiflora, with its glistening leaves 
and splendid flowers, the tall palm-trees, with their leafy 
canopies, the stalwart live-oak, the mournful cypress, the 
brilliant dogwood and honeysuckle, all give an air of 
enchantment and beauty to the scene. T]ie antlers of the 
noble buck, and the glossy plumage of the wild turkey of the 
forest, signal both food and noble pastime. An oriental 
and tropical richness and profusion of vegetable life seem 
to invite to enjoyment and ease. 

The voyagers ascend the gentle current of the placid 

5 



50 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

rivers, and new beauties are met at every turn. They seem 
to float amid flowers and perfume ; the drooping vines, trail- 
ing in the water, mingle with water-plants of various tints ; 
everything is tinged with richness and beauty ; and from 
some captured savage they hear always of the gold of some 
distant province, which animates their hopes and expec- 
tations. 

Is it strange that such a country should, where everything 
was new and marvelous and exaggerated, impart, without 
much license of the imagination, a pleasant glow of beauty 
and richness to the narrations of those who for the first 
time landed on its coasts? 

The progress of discovery and of conquest had gone on 
in the south with almost uninterrupted success ; a great and 
unexplored region was known to exist at the north, and 
the imagination had full scope to create for itself new fields 
for the acquisition of glory and of wealth. 

Panfilo de Narvaez had miserably perished, with all his 
noble men-at-arms and splendid equipment, and Cabega de 
Vaca had returned to Spain, himself and three others the 
only survivors of this unfortunate expedition. 

Hernando de Soto, it would seem, had already projected 
an expedition for the conquest of Florida. 

There was at that period no cavalier who occupied a 
more exalted position at the Spanish court than Hernando 
de Soto. He was a native of the town of Villa Nueva de 
Baccarota, in the southern part of Spain, near Xerez, and was 
of a good family. At an early age, living near one of the 
ports, San Lucar, whence sailed the expeditions for dis- 
covery and conquest of the New World, he went out under 
Don Pedro Arias D'Avilas, then Governor of the West 
Indies, by whom he was shortly promoted to the command 
of a troop of horse, and in 1531 was dispatched with one 
hundred men and a supply of horses by Arias to join 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 51 

Pizarro, then on his way to undertake the conquest of 
Peru. 

He proved a most welcome and valuable auxiliary, and 
soon rose to be second in command to Pizarro himself. He 
shared the varying fortunes of the invaders, and acquired a 
large experience and great reputation as an accomplished 
and gallant leader. Daring, yet prudent, brilliant, yet 
cautious, he was always foremost and always successful. 
Under Pizarro, with a small force, he captured the Inca, 
and left two thousand slain upon the field. After the con- 
quest was achieved, and foreseeing the rivalries and difficul- 
ties about to spring up between the leaders, he withdrew, 
with a splendid booty of 180,000 ducats, which had fallen 
to his share, and, with some valiant comrades, returned to 
Spain in 1536. 

In addition to the permission to undertake the conquest 
of Florida, he received the government of the island of 
Cuba, and the title of Adelantado of Florida, and marquis 
of the lands he might conquer. 

Florida was then a terra incognita. Expeditions had 
touched upon the shores, and Narvaez had gone inland a 
short distance, but of the great extent of country reaching 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Gulf of 
Mexico to the Arctic seas, very little was known ; the gen- 
eral impression, however, was that Florida was an island, 
and that a passage was to be found to the northward, similar 
to that around Cape Horn. 

The prestige of De Soto's name and reputation, and the 
evidences of his preceding good fortune, shown in the 
immense treasures he had brought back with him, and which 
were lavished by him with a calculating and magnificent 
prodigality, attracted to his standard a splendid retinue of 
followers, burning for adventure, and still more anxious, it 
is presumable, to share in the ransom of any Incas or Em- 



52 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

perors they might find in the ''richest country in the 
world," to the certain conquest and subjugation of which 
they confidently looked forward. ^'■Possimt quia posse vi- 
dentur" (they are successful who believe they will be so) 
was the practical motto upon which the Spanish adventurers 
acted, and, believing themselves invincible, they really 
achieved prodigies of valor and manly prowess. 

One of the most distinguished of the associates of De 
Soto in the expedition was Vasco de Porcallo, one of the 
proprietary lords of the island of Cuba, who, although 
somewhat advanced in years, felt the spirit of both honor 
and gain within him. It was of a steward of this cavalier 
that the somewhat whimsical story is related by Alonzo 
Fernandez, "that understanding that his slaves would de- 
stroy themselves, he went for them with a cudgel in his 
hand at the place where they were to meet, and told them 
that they could neither do nor think anything that he did 
not know before, and that he came thither to kill himself 
with them, to the end that if he had used them badly in 
this world he might use them worse in the world to come ; 
and this was a means, it is said, that they changed their 
purpose, and turned home again, to do that which he com- 
manded them. ' ' 

De Soto first made a general rendezvous for his forces in 
Cuba, and recruited his command ; while staying here, he 
sent two brigantines, with fifty men, to discover the ports 
of Florida, and from thence they brought two Indians taken 
upon the coast, ''wherewith" (as well because they might 
be necessary as guides and for interpreters, as because they 
said by signs that there was much gold in Florida) "the 
governor and all the company received much contentment, 
and longed for the hour of their departure, thinking in 
himself this was the richest country that unto that day had 
been discovered." 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



53 



De Soto left Cuba on the i8th of May, 1539, and landed 
at Tampa Bay on Whitsunday, the 25th of May, and the 
name of Esph-itu Santo was given to the bay in honor of the 
day. The number disembarked was about one thousand 
men-at-arms with three hundred and fifty horses, a force far 
more respectable in numbers and quality, in equipment and 
appurtenances, than had ever gone forth in any previous 
expedition. 

The fleet entered the bay, on the west coast of Florida, 
now called Tampa Bay, and landed, probably at Gadsden's 
Point, a few miles from an Indian town belonging to a 
chief called Hirrihigua, and which stood on the site of the 
present town of Tampa. The house of the chief was upon 
an artificial eminence, which still remains, after more than 
three hundred years, to awaken the interest of the anti- 
quary and certify the truth of ancient chronicles. While 
at this place, the two Indians whom they had been training 
for guides and interpreters escaped, to the great disap- 
pointment of De Soto. From some captured women, 
however, he learned that a Spaniard, left by Narvaez, was 
in the keeping of a neighboring chief. This man was Juan 
Ortiz, whose history would have been of itself a most inter- 
esting one had he possessed the skill to write it, or had he 
escaped with his life to Spain to relate it. 

After Narvaez landed, he had sent back to Cuba, to his 
wife, one of his smaller vessels, on board of which was 
this Juan Ortiz, to convey intelligence of his landing. She 
immediately sent additional supplies by the same vessel, and 
they arrived at the bay after Narvaez had entered upon his / 
march. Observing a letter fixed in the cleft of a stick on ^ 
shore, they asked some Indians whom they saw to bring it to 
them, which the savages refused, and made signs to come for 
it. Juan Ortiz, then a youth of eighteen, with a comrade, 
took the boat and went on shore, when they were immedi- 

5* 



^4 HISTORY OF FLORIDA, 

ately captured by the Indians, and taken to the chief, who 
was greatly enraged against the Spaniards on account of 
injuries he had received from Narvaez, and the companion 
of Ortiz was at once sacrificed upon his attempting resist- 
ance. The chief ordered Ortiz to be stretched out upon a 
staging of poles like a gridiron, and a fire to be built under 
him. He was of a young and interesting age, and when 
this cruel order was given, and the victim was about under- 
going this torture, a scene ensued which deservedly arouses 
our sympathies and admiration, and recalls at once the 
better-known and more widely appreciated incident of 
Pocahontas. The cruel Hirrihigua had a beautiful daugh- 
ter, about the same age as Ortiz, who, when she saw the 
dreadful fate to which the young Spaniard was doomed, 
was moved to that pity and compassion which, to the credit 
of her sex be it spoken, are always aroused in woman's 
breast by misfortune and suffering. Narvaez had been 
guilty, it seems, of acts of atrocious cruelty towards the 
mother of the chief, and the wrong had sunk deep and in- 
effaceably into his heart. Overcoming her own natural 
feelings of resentment against the race, and braving the 
anger of her father, this noble Indian maid threw herself 
at her father's feet and implored him to spare the life of 
the captive youth, urging upon him that this smooth- 
cheeked boy could do him no injury, and that it was more 
noble for a brave and lofty chief like himself to keep the 
youth a captive, than to sacrifice so mere a lad to his re- 
venge. 

The intercession of the noble girl was successful, and 
the young Spaniard was loosed and his wounds cared for 
by the gentle hands of her who had saved his life. 

After some months his life was again in jeopardy, and he 
was about to be sacrificed to the supposed requirements of 
the Demon of Evil, when his fair deliverer again inter- 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



55 



posed, warned him of his peril, and advised him to flee 
to Mucoso, a neighboring chief; and at the dead hour 
of night she herself led him half a league upon his way, 
and, placing him in the path of safety, gave him her true 
woman's blessing and hopes for his welfare. He reached 
Mucoso, who received him well and protected him from 
that period until the arrival of De Soto, twelve years after- 
wards. It adds not a little to the romance of the story, 
to repeat, that the daughter of Hirrihigua was affianced 
to the chief Mucoso, and that, owing to the refusal of 
Mucoso to surrender Ortiz upon the repeated demands of 
Hirrihigua, the proposed alliance was refused by that chief, 
and his daughter sacrificed her love to her humanity, 
and Mucoso his bride to his sense of honor. Savages 
though they were, they gave an example of noble virtues 
seldom equaled in any society more polished or more re- 
fined. 

A party of horse sent by De Soto met Ortiz on his way 
to their camp, where he was received with great rejoicings, 
and the first question addressed to him from the very depths 
of their hearts was whether he knew of any neighboring 
country rich in the precious metals. 

Some of the cavaliers had participated in the ransom of 
the Inca of Peru, and had entered upon this expedition 
with similar expectations. The others, excited by the suc- 
cess of the followers of Pizarro, were greedy to search some 
land rich in gold. What they hoped from a country which 
they supposed to be the richest of any yet discovered, may 
be inferred from an examination of that chapter of the 
Conquest of Peru devoted to the recital of the almost fabu- 
lous amount of treasure obtained as the ransom of Atahu- 
alpa, which, it was said, filled with gold a room twenty- 
two feet long, seventeen feet wide, and nine feet high; 
an amount of treasure which perhaps it would not be rash 



56 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



to say could not be obtained in gold, if Florida even now, 
at the end of three hundred years, were pillaged anew. 

A dim vision of some distant and ever-receding city, re- 
splendent with magnificence, and like Cuzco, ''where the 
roofs of the temples were plated with gold, while the walls 
were hung with tapestry, and the floors inlaid with tiles of 
the same precious metal," was ever before their eyes, and, 
like an ignis-fatuus, led them for weeks and months and 
years, ever disappointed and ever credulous to the last, dis- 
believing everything else told them by the savage races, and 
believing every promise of this.* 

Juan Ortiz was of much less real value to them as a guide 
than they expected. He had been kept within the limits 
of a single tribe, and knew little or nothing of the country 
beyond. The excursions of the troops soon became dis- 
couraging. The vessels were sent back, and Porcallo, the 
lieutenant of De Soto, found the hardships too great, and, 

* In vol. iii. of Hakluyt will be found the relations of Pedro 
Morales, whom Sir Francis Drake brought from St. Augustine, in 
Florida, in 1586, in which he says : " There is a great city sixteene 
or twentie dayes journey from St. Helena northwestward, which the 
Spaniards call La Gi-and Copal, which they thinke to bee very rich and 
exceeding great, and have been in sight of it some of them." (P. 
361.) There is also a relation of Nicolas Burguignon, alias Haly, 
whom Sir Francis Drake brought from Florida. 

" He further affirmeth that there is a citie northwestward from St. 
Helena in the mountains, which the Spaniards call La Grand Copal, 
and is very great and rich, and that in these mountains there is great 
store of christal, gold, and rubies and diamonds; and that a Span- 
iard brought from thence a diamond which was worth ;i^5000. He 
saith also that to make passage unto these mountains it is needful to 
have store of hatchets to give unto the Indians, and store of pickaxes 
to break the mountains, zvhich shine so bright in the day in some places 
that they cannot behold them, and therefore they travel unto them by 
night." Ibid., p. 361. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



57 



leaving the honor to the younger candidates for glory, he 
returned to Cuba. 

They then commenced their march to the northward, 
and, having no great supply of provisions, were soon re- 
duced to the necessity of depending upon the Indian fields ; 
but, it is said, " they were sore vexed with hunger and evil 
ways, because the countries were very barren of maiz, low, 
and full of water, bogs, and thick woods. Wheresoever 
any town was found, there were some beets, and they that 
came first, and sodden with water and salt, did eat them 
without any other thing, and such as could not get them 
gathered stalks of maiz, which, because they were young, 
had no maiz in them. When they came to the river (the 
Withlacoochee, it is supposed) they found palmettos upon 
low palm-trees like those of Andalusia." 

They went thence to Ocali, which is described as being 
a fertile region, and where they found abundance of corn, 
and other provisions, as well as plums, grapes, nuts, and 
acorns. After leaving Ocali, situated in the neighborhood, 
it is supposed, of the present town of that name, they entered 
the domain of a chief called Vitachuco, who gave them 
battle in every form, and exerted his utmost efforts to de- 
stroy them. Those who have read Irving' s Conquest of 
Florida will recall the bloody contest which took place on 
a level plain between two lakes, and the somewhat marvel- 
ous fact stated, that some two hundred Indians plunged 
into the lake, and remained there swimming for twenty- 
four hours without touching foot to the ground. This 
circumstance the chronicler La Vega thinks remarkable, 
and hardly credible, but for the fact that his informants 
were all honorable men. Hardships, and a fierce resist- 
ance to their farther progress, soon made their journey 
painful and disastrous; but De Soto was too determined a 
leader and too good a soldier to feel other than his mar- 



58 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

tial ardor excited by opposition, and he with prudent 
sagacity overcame all the obstacles in his path. His line 
of march lay parallel to the shores of the gulf, and he 
probably at this time reached the neighborhood of Talla- 
hassee. A party whom he dispatched to the coast were 
shown by the Indians the remains of De Narvaez's encamp- 
ment at Aute, and the bleaching skeletons of his horses. 

De Soto's treatment of the Indians was probably better 
than that practiced by most of the discoverers, and in fact 
this was forced upon him as a matter of policy, for he 
found the natives of Florida far superior to the effeminate 
races of South and Central America, trained to combat, 
and filled with the most indomitable courage and persever- 
ance. In some instances they may have been treated with 
cruelty by him as a measure of policy, to overawe and 
terrify them. 

In one of the illustrations to De Bry, is a large plate, 
showing the cutting off of the hands of a number of chiefs 
by De Soto ; and many instances of his severity are scattered 
through the Portuguese narrative. 

It is said that '* after the well-fought battle of Vitachuco, 
some of the youngest of the prisoners the governour gave 
to them which had good chaines and were careful to look 
to them that they got not away. All the rest he com- 
manded to be put to death, and they being tied to a stake, 
in the midst of the market-place, the Indians of the Para- 
coussi did shoot them to death." 

In another place, it is said that ^'they took an hundred 
men and women, of which, as well there as in other places 
where they made any inroades, the captain chose one or 
two for the governour, and divided the others to himself 
and the rest that went with him. They led these Indians 
in chaines, with yron collars about their neckes, and they 
served to carry their stuffe, and to grind their maiz, and 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 59 

for other services that such captives could do. Some- 
times it happened that, going for wood or maiz with them, 
they killed the Christian that led them, and ran away 
with the chain. Others filed their chaines by night with a 
piece of stone, wherewith they cut them, and use it in- 
stead of yron. The women and young boys, when they 
were once an hundred leagues from their countrie, and had 
forgotten things, were let go loose, and so they served, and 
in a very short space they understood the language of the 
Christians." 

A very creditable circumstance is mentioned, in the 
accounts of the expedition, of the attachment of the Indians 
to their wives. On one occasion the Spaniards found two 
men and a woman gathering beans : the men might have 
escaped, but one of them, being husband to the woman, 
would not leave her, and they fought most bravely until 
they were slain, having wounded three horses. 

Their style of dress is thus described: ''They have 
mantles like blankets, made of the inner rind of the barks of 
trees (probably the cabbage-palmetto), and some were made 
of a kind of grass like nettles, which on being beaten be- 
comes like flax." The grass referred to is evidently the 
bear-grass, which has a strong and flexible fibre, suitable 
for cordage or cloth, and is very abundant in Florida. 
The women covered themselves with these mantles; one 
was fastened on the shoulders, and worn with the right 
arm out; they wore another fastened at the waist, and ex- 
tending down towards the feet. The men wore a similar 
mantle over the shoulders, and deer-skins around the loins. 
The deer-skins were well dressed, and so well colored that 
they resembled very fine cloth. They made their mocca- 
sins of the same material. It would appear from this that 
the Indian costume of 1539 was the same as that of 1839. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Expedition of Hernando de Soto, continued. 
1540. 

The Spaniards under De Soto, leaving Apalachee, in the 
country east of the Apalachicola, turned to the northeast, 
and came to a town called Yupaha, the sound of which is 
suggestive of the Alapaha, a tributary of the Suwanee. 
Here the following notable speech is put into the mouth of 
an Indian chief, which has a strong smack of Castilian 
diplomatic grandiloquence : 

''Right high, right mightie and excellent lord, those 
things which seldome happen doe cause admiration : what 
then may the sight of your lordship and your people doe 
to me and mine whom we never saw? especially being 
mounted on such fierce beasts as your horses are, entering 
with such violence and fury into my country, without any 
knowledge of your coming. It was a thing so strange, and 
caused such fear and terror in our minds, that it was not in 
our power to stay and receive your lordship with the solem- 
nities due to so high and renowned a prince as your lord- 
ship is," (a diplomatic way of saying they could not help 
running away ;) ''and, trusting in your greatness and singu- 
lar virtues, I do not only hope to be freed from blame, but 
also to receive favours, and the first which I demand of 
your lordship is that you will use me, my country and sub- 
jects, as your own ; and the second, that you will tell me 
( 60 ) 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 6i 

who you are, and whence you come, and whither you go, 
and what you seek, that I the better may serve you thereto." 

To this courteous speech the governor replied, '' that he 
was very much obliged to him ; that he was the son of the 
sun, and came from those parts where he is, and sought the 
greatest lord and richest province in it." 

De Soto here '' left a very high crosse of wood sett up in 
the middest of the market-place." 

The populousness of the country he had now entered, 
upon the Altamaha, maybe inferred from the fact mentioned 
that a chief sent him "two thousand Indians, with a pres- 
ent, to wit : many conies and partridges, bread of maize, 
two hens, and many dogs, which last, it is said, were es- 
teemed as if they had been fat wethers ; and when they 
came to any town and found thirty or forty dogs, he that 
could get one and kill it thought himself no small man ; 
and he that killed it and gave not his captain one quarter, 
if he knew it, he frowned on him, and made him feele it on 
the watches." 

In another tribe four Indians were taken, and none of 
them would confess anything but that they knew of no 
other habitation. 

The governor commanded one of them to be burned, 
and presently another confessed, and gave the information 
they desired. 

Feminine chieftainship is an unfrequent occurrence among 
savage tribes ; but near the Atlantic coast in South Carolina 
De Soto came into the territories of an Indian queen, in- 
vested with youth, beauty, and loveliness, who is styled by 
the old chronicles ''the Ladie of the countrie." Upon De 
Soto's approach, he was met by a lady ambassadress, sister 
of her Majesty, who delivered a courteous speech of wel- 
come, *' and within a little time the Ladie came out of the 
town in a chaire, whereon certain of the principal Indians 

6 



62 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

brought her to the river. She entered into a barge, which 
had the sterne tilted over, and on the floor her mat ready 
laid, with two cushions upon it, one upon another, where 
she sat her down, and with her came her principal Indians, 
in other barges, which did wait upon her." She went to 
the place where the governor was, and at her coming she 
made this speech: '' Excellent lord, I wish this coming of 
your lordships into these your countries to be most happy ; 
although my power be not answerable to my will, and my 
services be not according to my desire, nor such as so high 
a prince as your lordships deserveth, yet such the good will 
is rather to be accepted than all the treasures of the world 
that without it can be offered ; with most unfailable and 
manifest affection I offer you my person, lords, and subjects, 
and this small service. ' ' 

After this courteous and graceful speech from the throne, 
to which it maybe inferred that so gallant a cavalier as 
De Soto must have replied in equally complimentary style, 
the princess caused to be presented to the Adelantado 
rich presents of the clothes and skins of the country, and — 
far greater attraction for them — beautiful strings of pearls. 
Her Majesty, after some maiden coyness, took from her 
own neck a great cordon of pearls and cast it about the 
neck of the governor, entertaining him with very gra- 
cious speeches of love and courtesy, and as soon as he 
was lodged in the town she sent him another present, of 
not quite so delicate and refined a character, but no doubt 
considered by her of far greater value, namely, some 
hens. 

Perceiving that they valued the pearls, she advised the 
governor to send and search certain graves that were in 
that town, and that he should find many. They sought 
the graves, and there found fourteen ^' measures" of pearls, 
weighing two hmidred and ninety-two pounds, and little 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 63 

babies and birds made of them, reminding one of the 
recent excavations at Cliiriqui. 

The people were brown, well made and well propor- 
tioned, and more civil than any others that were seen in 
all the country of Florida, and all of them went shod and 
clothed. 

The Spaniards, wearied with their long and fruitless 
travel, and worn down by their hardships, urged upon 
their leader that it was a good country to inhabit, and in 
a temperate climate, and that ships going and coming from 
Spain might touch there, and that it was a productive 
country. 

But the governor, it is said, '^ since his intent was to 
seek another treasure like that of Atahualpa, Lord of Peru, 
was not contented with a good country, nor with pearls, 
though many of them were worth their weight in gold. 
And being a stern man, and of few words, though he was 
glad to sift and know the opinion of all men, yet after he 
had delivered his own he would not be contraried, and 
always did what he liked himself, and so it is said all men 
did condescend unto his will, and though it seems an 
errour to leave that country, yet there was none that would 
say anything against him after they knew his resolution." 

The fair princess seems to have been ill requited for her 
hospitable reception of the Spaniards. Held as a hostage 
(for the good behavior of the Indians, it is to be presumed), 
De Soto insisted upon her accompanying him, which she 
did for many days, until one day, turning aside into the 
forest upon some slight pretext, she disappeared, not with- 
out suspicion of design, as there happened to be missing 
at the same time one of the Spaniards, who report said 
had joined the fair princess for weal or for woe, and had 
returned with her to her tribe. Upon this meagre inci- 
dent, the romance-writer of the South, VV. Gilmore Simms, 



64 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

has woven an ingenious and pleasant tale in his story of 
Andres Vasconselos. 

The journey of De Soto was thence to the borders of the 
Tennessee, meeting no opposition in his march. By one 
tribe he was met with a present of seven hundred hens, 
and by another with twenty baskets of mulberries, and on 
one occasion three hundred dogs were brought to him. 

Led on by the indefinite stories of the Indians, whose 
motive was probably to mislead him, he traveled through 
the upper parts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, 
until he changed his course to the southwest, and arrived 
at a town called Mauvilla. 

The tribes through which they had passed in the upper 
country seem to have offered no opposition, and were 
probably of a more peaceable disposition than those along 
the gulf. 

Mauvilla was the scene of a bitter and sanguinary conflict. 
The pearls and baggage which the Spaniards had borne thus 
far were left in the hands of the Indian slaves, who were 
suddenly surprised by the Mauvillians and carried into the 
town. De Soto, determined to strike a blow which should 
carry terror to the natives, attacked the place with great 
impetuosity, and set fire to the buildings, consuming alike 
the stores of the Indians and his own baggage, and — what 
they seem to have most regretted — their stores of pearls. 
The number of Indians slain in this encounter is stated to 
have been twenty-five hundred, while of the Spaniards 
eighteen men were killed and one hundred and fifty 
wounded. 

After this battle De Soto learned that Francisco Mal- 
donado, who had been sent by him from Apalachicola 
with the brigantines to look for a port to the westward, 
awaited him at the port of Ochuse — (Pensacola), six days' 
journey from Mauvilla. This Mauvilla is supposed to have 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 65 

been on the Alabama River, and the name of Mobile is 
derived from it. 

It might naturally be that De Soto, having now trav- 
eled several hundred leagues through the country, and 
finding his hopes ever disappointed, would, at the end of 
these eighteen months of travel, gladly embrace the means 
of extrication afforded by this opportune arrival of his 
vessels. 

But the pride of the noble cavalier would not permit 
him to turn back while a glimmering hope remained of 
accomplishing his designs. He instructed Juan Ortiz to 
keep Maldonado's arrival a secret, because, it is quaintly 
said, ^'he had not accomplished that which he determined 
to do, and because the pearls were burnt there which he 
meant to have sent to Cuba for a show, that the people 
hearing the news might be desirous to come to that coun- 
try." He feared also ''that if they should have news of 
him, without seeing from Florida either gold or silver or 
anything of value, the country would get such a name that 
no man would seek to go thither when' he should have 
need of people; and so he determined to send no news 
of himself until he had found some rich country." 

And thus he deliberately turned his face forever from 
the shores of his native land, and from all the wealth and 
distinction of his viceroyalty in Cuba, intent on carrying 
out to its full solution the problem of the wealth and riches 
of Florida. 

Maldonado long awaited the arrival of De Soto at 
Ochuse, and at last, despairing of ever'again meeting him, 
turned his sails sorrowfully to bear to the Lady Isabella 
the report of the probable fate which had befallen the 
expedition. 

De Soto changed his course thence to the northwest, sore 
in body and sore in spirit, and was met at every step with 
. 6* 



66 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

demonstrations of enmity; the towns were burned over 
their heads, and night -attacks were frequent. In the 
province of Quinague he was waited upon by six principal 
chiefs, who made this remarkable declaration: "That they 
came to see what people they were, and that long ago they 
had been informed by their forefathers that a white people 
should subdue them, and that therefore they would return 
to their cacique, and bid him come presently and serve 
the governour." 

The Spaniards were then near to the Father of Waters, 
which they called the Great River — Rio Grande. They 
described the river as ''about half a league broad. If a 
man stood still on the other side, it could not be dis- 
cerned whether he were a man or no. The river was of 
great depth, and of a strong current ; the water was always 
muddy; there came down the river, continually, many 
trees and timber, which the force of the water and stream 
brought down. There was a great store of fish in it of 
sundrie sorts, and the most of it differing from the fresh- 
water fish of Spain." From the cottonwood-trees on its 
banks, De Soto constructed boats large enough to carry 
three horses at a time, and crossed over at night without 
interruption from the natives. He spent the summer and 
autumn in exploring the regions beyond the Mississippi, 
and wintered, it is supposed, upon the White River. He 
here concluded that in the spring he would go to the 
seacoast, and dispatch a vessel to Cuba and another to 
Mexico, with the view of sending to his wife, the Lady 
Isabella, who '"as in Cuba, intelligence of himself, and for 
another outfit to enable him further to prosecute his expe- 
dition. Up to this time he had lost two hundred and fifty 
men and one hundred and fifty horses. 

About the middle of April he returned to the banks of 
the Mississippi, with the view of going to the coast, and at 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 67 

once began to make inquiries about the country, but could 
get little intelligence. He then sent out an expedition to 
the southward, but it could make no progress on account 
of the numerous creeks and canebrakes. 

The gallant chief, who had so long borne up under every 
species of discouragement, who had ever responded with 
alacrity to the call to battle, w^ho bore himself always as a 
prudent and brave commander, now began to sink into 
despondency; and visions of the past, and a certain home- 
sickness, it may well be imagined, came upon him. A slow 
and wearing fever daily detracted from his strength, and he 
soon felt that the hour approached wherein he was to leave 
this present life. He called his followers around him to re- 
ceive his parting words, and said to them, '' that now he was 
to go to give an account before the presence of God of all 
his life past, and since it pleased God to take him in such 
a time, and that the time was come ; that he knew his 
death drew near, and that he. His most unworthy servant, 
did yield to Him many thanks therefor ; and desired all that 
were present and absent (whom he confessed himself to be 
much beholding unto for their singular virtues, love, and 
loyalty, which himself had well tried in the travels which 
they had suffered, which always in his mind he did hope to 
satisfy and reward when it should please God to give him 
rest with more prosperities of his estate) that they would 
pray to God for him, that for His mercy He would forgive 
him his sins and receive his soul into eternal glory, and 
that they would quit and free him of the charge which he 
had over them, and that they would pardon him for some 
wrongs which they might have received of him ; and, to 
avoid some divisions which upon his death might fall out 
upon the choice of his successor, he requested them to 
elect a principal person and able to govern, of whom all 
should like well, and, when he was elected, they should 



68 ' HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

swear before him to obey him ; and that he would thank 
them very much in so doing, because the grief that he had 
would somewhat be assuaged, and the pain that he felt be- 
cause he left them in so great confusion, in leaving them 
in a strange country where they knew not where they 
were." 

Baltazar de Gallegos answered in the name of all the 
rest; and first of all, comforting him, "he set before his 
eyes how short the life of this world was, and with how 
many troubles and miseries it is accompanied, and how 
God showed him a singular favor which soonest left it, and 
many other things proper for the occasion ; and besought 
that he would himself appoint his successor." He there- 
fore named Luis Muscoza de Alvarado his captain-general. 
The next day, being the 21st of May, 1542, ''departed out 
of this life the valorous, virtuous, and valiant Captaine 
Don Fernando de Soto, Governour of Cuba and Adelan- 
tado of Florida," whom, says the chronicler, "fortune 
advanced as it useth to do others, that he might have the 
higher fall. He departed in such a place and such a time, 
and in his sickness he had but little comfort." 

They attempted to conceal De Soto's death, but, the 
Indians suspecting the place of his burial, he was taken up 
at a late hour of a dark night, and, wrapped in his mantle, 
was conveyed by the dim light of the stars to the middle 
of the Mississippi, and buried beneath its stream, in sorrow 
and silence, with a low whispered De Profundis from 
noble and saddened hearts, who seemed to bury with 
their chief beneath those dark waters almost the last ray 
of hope, and to look forward to the future with heavy 
forebodings. 

The choice of a successor made by De Soto was ratified 
without dissent by his followers, and their first and only 
aim was to escape as soon as possible from a country which 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



69 



had disappointed all their hopes, and given not even the 
barren rewards of honorable fame. 

They endeavored^ at first, to follow the supposed route 
of Cabe^a de Vaca, and reach Mexico, then called New 
Spain, by land ; but after traveling to the southwest for 
some time they became discouraged, and concluded to 
build boats and attempt to coast along the shore. Finding 
a suitable place, called Minoya, the governor commanded 
them " to gather all the chaines which they had to lead the 
Indians," and collect the timber and material necessary 
for building boats. They built seven large boats and floated 
down the Mississippi, and, after several encounters with 
the natives, reached the open sea, and coasted along to the 
westward until they reached the northern Spanish settle- 
ments at Panuco, where they were joyfully received and 
treated with great kindness. Many went on shore "and 
kissed the ground, and kneeling on their knees, and lifting 
up their hands and eyes to heaven, they all ceased not to 
give God thanks." 

Of those constituting De Soto's expedition who came out 
of Florida, there arrived at Panuco three hundred and 
eleven persons, the only survivors of the thousand brave 
men who, four years before, had landed at the harbor of 
Espiritu Santo. 

The main interest of this extraordinary expedition cen- 
tres in the person of the gallant chief with whom it orig- 
inated, and who staked his name, his fortune, and his life 
upon the success of the enterprise ; and as long as the great 
Father of Waters shall roll in resistless flood towards the 
sea, so long will the name of De Soto be recalled in con- 
nection with this expedition, and the sad fate which ter- 
minated his life upon its borders will excite a throb of 
sympathy for one who, at the early age of forty-two, 
passed from this world, second to none of his day or age 



70 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



in the practice of all manly virtues and deeds of knightly 
prowess. 

We can hardly trace this long journey of De Soto through 
a trackless wilderness without astonishment at the persever- 
ance and hardihood which, under such circumstances, could 
traverse thousands of miles unprovided with means of sub- 
sistence, marching from tribe to tribe and country to coun- 
try, wherever the information of the hour produced hope 
for the future. 

Let us, for a moment, carry ourselves back in imagination 
three hundred and thirty-one years. From the beautiful 
pine-glades of Florida we see issuing forth the gallant 
troops of the Adelantado. Three hundred mounted men, 
on noble Andalusian steeds, richly caparisoned, lead the ad- 
vance. These are all gentlemen and noble cavaliers, hidal- 
gos of rank and scions of the noblest families of Spain, 
officered by brave captains, whose names are emblazoned 
for their valor under the banner of Pizarro. Following 
these come six hundred and fifty men-at-arms, on foot, in 
close and serried ranks, and in their midst several hundred 
of the natives, bearing the burdens of their masters. These 
are the slaves, native Indians, whom they have impressed 
into their service ; many are led by chains, and others man- 
acled, to prevent escape. When a sufficient number of 
some other tribe are taken to supply their place, these will 
be relieved and allowed to return to their homes, and the 
others substituted, to be again relieved in like manner. 
Riding behind the cavaliers appear twelve men in long, 
black soutaines, who are evidently non-combatants. These 
are the clericos, priests and friars, and in their train are 
those who bear the ornaments and plate for celebrating 
mass. At each encampment an altar is erected, draped 
with rich altar-cloths, and surmounted with a golden cruci- 
fix, while lofty candelabra throw their pale light upon the 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 71 

worshipers. The priests, in their gorgeous vestments, cele- 
brate mass in the sight of the whole army, drawn up in 
hollow square ; and, kneeling amid their Christian masters, 
the natives of the forest, in mute wonderment, bow their 
heads in adoration of the Christians' God. 

So, day by day and week by week, proceeded the march. 
Wherever an Indian field was found, its harvest was gathered ; 
and wherever an Indian store-house or granary was dis- 
covered, its contents were speedily appropriated. For three 
years and a half this long march proceeded, without rein- 
forcements or additional supplies. This fact of itself speaks 
volumes for the energy and generalship of this distinguished 
leader. 

With but a thousand men, De Soto conquered and over- 
ran a country containing hundreds of thousands of inhab- 
itants, and for over three years subsisted his troops and 
maintained the discipline of his forces in a wild and track- 
less country, without, so far as we know, a single murmur 
of discontent being raised against him by his devoted fol- 
lowers. 

For three hundred years the red and white races have 
fought for supremacy over the countries traversed by De 
Soto, and now, at the end of more than three hundred 
years, the descendants of the warlike chiefs of Hirrihigua, 
Vitachuco, and Ocali still possess, amid the grassy ever- 
glades and cypress swamps beyond the Espiritu Santa, the 
hunting-grounds and graves of their ancestors. 

Three hundred and thirty years ago, the advent of the 
horses of the adventurers, which the Indians invested with 
supernatural proportions, first struck with terror the savage 
races of Florida, and seemed to be the terrible precursors 
and forerunners of the domination of the white race, ''the 
children of the sun;" and now the iron horse of an ad- 



72 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

vancing civilization is startling those same pine forests 
with its shrill scream, indicating the fulfillment of that 
manifest destiny which was to strike forever from the 
land of their forefathers the last remains of the aboriginal 
races. 



CHAPTER V. 

Route of De Soto's Expedition through Florida. 

The long sojourn of De Soto in the region bordering 
upon the Gulf of Mexico and on the banks of the Missis- 
sippi, and the remarkable adventures which he encountered, 
enhanced by his personal character and prowess, have in- 
vested the expedition of this gallant adventurer with unusual 
interest, and it has long been an important subject of in- 
quiry to ascertain the route pursued by him and the locali- 
ties of the more important events of his journey, beginning 
upon the beautiful bay of Espiritu Santo and ending with 
the descent of the great Father of Waters. 

The task of thus tracing the steps of De Soto is by no 
means devoid of difficulty. We have to encounter not 
only the uncertainties of connecting names with localities 
imperfectly described, but have to be governed in these 
descriptions by three separate accounts of the expedition, 
exhibiting very important differences and discrepancies. 
The most voluminous of these is that of Garcilasso de la 
Vega, commonly called LTnca. The next in extent is 
the work of a gentleman of Elvas, who accompanied the 
expedition, and who is commonly called the Portuguese 
Gentleman. The third and briefest is the narration of 
Lewis de Biedma. 

The point where De Soto landed is stated by all to have 
been at Espiritu Santo Bay, on the western coast of Florida, 
and now known as Tampa Bay, a beautiful sheet of water, 

7 (73) 



74 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



some thirty-six miles in length, and the largest bay on the 
Gulf of Mexico. There are two heads to the bay, one open- 
ing northerly and the other easterly. De Narvaez probably 
landed near and visited the northerly or old Tampa por- 
tion of the bay. De Soto, it is likely, landed near Gads- 
den's Point, where the shoal water begins, and beyond 
which it was of insufficient depth to carry his vessels. 
Their first day's march was to the village of Hirrihigua, 
two leagues northeasterly, and the location of which, as 
described by L'Inca, corresponds to the present town of 
Tampa.* The village consisted, it is said, of several large 
houses, built of wood and thatched with palm-leaves. In 
an opposite part of the village, near the water, upon an 
artificial eminence so constructed as to serve as a fortress, 
stood the dwelling of the cacique or chief. 

From Hirrihigua, proceeding in a northeast course, at 
the end of two days De Soto came to the village of Mucoso, 
the chief who had befriended Ortiz. This may have been 
Hichipucsassa. They next, at a distance of twenty-five 
leagues from Hirrihigua, reached a town they call Urri- 
barracaxi, which was likely on the Withlacoochee, as they 
there crossed a river. They next reached a town they name 
Ocali, which was on the banks of a river. This location is 
uncertain, but has been supposed to indicate the neigh- 
borhood of the present town of Ocali and the Ocklawaha. 

From Ocali they went to Vitachuco — from the descrip- 
tion of the adjacent country, indicating a location near 
Wacahootee. After leaving Vitachuco, they reached a 
great river, too deep to ford, which must have been the 
Suwanee.f Crossing this river, they reached Osachile, 
which is said to have been ten leagues from Vitachuco. J 



* Irving's Conquest of Florida, p. 58. 
t Ibid., p. 127. + Ibid., p. 128. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



75 



From Osachile they marched three days, and on the fourth 
came to the Great Morass.* Passing this, they entered a 
fruitful country covered with fields of grain and containing 
many villages. In four days after passing the Great Morass 
they came to the village of Anhayea. The line of march 
from Vitachuco west would carry them to the Suwanee, 
near Suwanee Old Town ; thence, bearing too far to the 
west, they were involved in one of the great coast swamps, 
but thence going northwestwardly they entered the fertile 
region embraced in the present counties of Madison, Jef- 
ferson, and Leon, and their Anhayea is thought to have 
been in the vicinity of Tallahassee. From Anhayea two 
exploring parties were sent out, one north and one south. 
The party which went north returned reporting very favor- 
ably of a rich and well inhabited country. The party which 
went down towards the coast found a sterile country, full 
of ponds and swamps. These descriptions would corre- 
spond very well with the country north and south of Monti- 
cello or Tallahassee. The village of Aute was twelve leagues 
from Anhayea, and not far from the Bay of Apalachee. De 
Soto sent back to Espiritu Santo and had his vessels brought 
into this bay. Afterwards he sent vessels coasting west- 
wardly. At a distance of seventy leagues they entered a 
beautiful and spacious bay, called by them Ochuse, which 
was evidently Pensacola Bay. They reported that it was 
land-locked and completely sheltered with bold shores, 
and large enough for a fleet to anchor in. De Soto does 
not appear to have crossed the Apalachicola or Chatta- 
hoochee River, but, having made an appointment for 
vessels to be sent from Cuba to meet him in the fall at 
Ochuse, he determined to proceed to a province to the 
northeast, abounding in gold, pearls, etc. Leaving Anhayea, 

* Irving's Conquest of Florida, p. 130. 



^6 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

he traveled northeast, and at the end of three days came 
to Copachique; this was probably on the Savannah River. 
Two days farther travel brought them to Atapaha. This 
name so closely resembles Alapaha that it is reasonable to 
suppose they are the same, and that the town was on the 
river of that name, which, passing through a portion of 
Georgia, discharges itself into the Suwanee, in Hamilton 
County, Florida. Traveling still in the same direction, it is 
supposed they crossed successively the Altamaha and the 
Savannah River, and reached the region of Middle Georgia 
between Milledgeville and Augusta. They marched thence 
northwestwardly to the mineral regions of Upper Georgia, 
where they had been informed the gold which they saw in 
possession of the natives had been procured. De Soto then 
passed to the Etowah River, and visited a large Indian town 
situated at the confluence of the Coosa and Etowah, called 
Chiapa, the location now occupied by the present city of 
Rome, Georgia. He then passed southwardly through a 
rich and fertile country called Coosa, and eventually reached 
Maubila or Mauvilla, which was situated, it is supposed, at 
Choctaw Bluff. He here heard of the arrival of his vessels 
at Ochuse, on Pensacola Bay, and at first contemplated 
going to meet them, but, fearing that once near his vessels 
his men would insist on leaving the country, he determined 
to pursue his march westward. At Maubila he was not 
more than one hundred and fifty miles from Pensacola. His 
course was then northwestward to the Mississippi, and it is 
conjectured that he crossed a few miles below Memphis. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Other Expeditions to Florida— Occupation of Santa Maria by Tristan 
de Luna — Expedition to the Borders of Tennessee and the Province 
of Coca, 

1543— 1561. 

While De Soto was thus traversing Florida and the coun- 
try east of the Mississippi, Mendoza, the Viceroy of 
Mexico, had fitted out an expedition to enter upon the 
route of De Vaca. It consisted of but thirty horsemen, 
under the command first of Juan de Caldivar, and after- 
wards of Coronado, who passed as far north as Missouri, 
and crossed several rivers, to which he gave names, but 
which are described with so little accuracy as to give but 
slender aid to their being now identified. Passing through 
a province called Quivira, they were informed of four white 
men having been there, whom they supposed must have 
been De Vaca and his comrades. After the return of Co- 
ronado, the zealous brothers of the order of St. Francis 
determined to visit Quivira, which, having undertaken 
with a small party, these worthy men fell martyrs to their 
Christian zeal, being murdered by the natives, with all of 
their party, except two men who escaped to Mexico by dif- 
ferent routes. Upon the arrival of Don Luis Muscoza de 
Alvarado in Mexico with the remnant of De Soto's expe- 
dition, Mendoza, the Viceroy, endeavored to induce some 
of them to lead an expedition he was anxious to fit out for 
Florida; but they were unwilling again to enter upon this 
enterprise. 

7* (77) 



jS HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

In the following year, 1544, Julian de Samano and Pedro 
de Ahumada, being satisfied that Florida abounded in 
pearls and fine furs, and believing that mines of gold, sil- 
ver, and other metals could be opened, sought the privilege 
of conquering the country, but failed to obtain the desired 
permission. 

A treasure-ship, on a voyage to Spain from New Mexico, 
was lost, on the eastern coast of Florida, in the year 1545, 
and of some two hundred persons on board who escaped 
to the land, all were sacrificed by the Indians except a few 
who were reduced to servitude. One of these made his 
way to Laudonniere twenty years afterwards, and s»everal 
others escaped to Menendez. 

The religious zeal of the Franciscans again induced an 
attempt to plant the cross on the shores of Florida. It is 
probable that had this attempt preceded the armed expedi- 
tions which had landed on these shores, they would have 
been received with the kindness which seems to have wel- 
comed the first comers to the shores of America. But the 
natives had learned to associate all white men with the 
armed invaders of their soil, and they could make no dis- 
tinction between the sword of the one and the cross of 
the other. 

Four Franciscan brothers, Fra Luis Cancer de Bastro, 
of the order of St. Dominic, who had been in Mexico, and 
held the office of Provincial Vicar of Guatemala and Chi- 
apas, Fra Gregorio de Betata, Fra Diego de Penalosa, Fra 
Juan Garcia, and one Donado, called Fuentes, sailed from 
Havana in the year 1549, and landed at Espiritu Santo Bay. 
Penalosa and Fuentes, attempting to penetrate into the 
country, were set upon at once and massacred by the 
natives. The others had remained on board their vessel in 
the harbor, and, while lying there, a Spaniard came off to 
them, named Juan Munoz, who was a page of Captain 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



79 



Calderon, an officer of De Soto's expedition. He had 
been captured by the Indians, and held by them ten years, 
and now most gladly availed himself of this opportunity of 
escape. Fra Luis, t*he chief of the clerical party, was not 
discouraged by the fate of Penalosa and Fuentes, and, not- 
withstanding the earnest efforts of Munoz and others to dis- 
suade him from the attempt, he determined to try his 
power of persuasion upon the hostile natives. His Chris- 
tian zeal could not be restrained by the dictates of prudence, 
and, unwilling to give up the object of his journey thither 
without a final effort to reach the hearts of those people, 
he prepared to sacrifice his life, if necessary, in the attempt. 

Accordingly, he insisted upon landing alone among the 
dusky throng of warriors who lined the shores of the Espi- 
ritu Santo. Scarcely had the zealous priest touched the 
beach before he fell beneath the war-clubs of the infuriated 
savages, a martyr to his zeal ; and the shores of this most 
beautiful bay were reddened with the blood of one whose 
Christian devotion and unselfishness formed a marked con- 
trast to the characters of those whose lust for gold had 
brought them to the New World. 

The companions of Fra Luis de Cancer, deterred by his 
fate from making any further effort to Christianize the 
natives of Florida, abandoned the expedition, and set sail 
for Cuba. 

Some three years afterwards, a Spanish plate fleet, which 
had left Vera Cruz with upwards of one thousand persons 
on board, was wrecked on the coast of Florida. Stopping, 
as usual, at Havana, the fleet had again set sail for Spain, 
when it was overtaken by one of those tremendous gales 
which prevail with such terrific efl'ect in the southern seas, 
and driven before its resistless power. The whole fleet, with 
the exception of a single vessel, was cast upon the inhos- 
pitable shores of Florida, somewhere within the Gulf of 



So HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

Mexico, probably very considerably to the west. Of the 
thousand persons on board, only three hundred reached 
the shore. They endeavored to reach Mexico by passing 
along the shores, making rafts to cross the mouths of the 
rivers, but, incessantly harassed by the Indians, and over- 
come by fatigue, they gradually decreased in numbers until 
all had perished except one Francis Marcos. He had been 
left by his companions, in a dying condition, buried in the 
sand, wirh only his face exposed; but, reviving sufficiently 
to exert himself a little further, he crawled along the coast 
until he was discovered and taken up by two friendly Indians, 
who carried him in a boat to Panuco. With the exception 
of the few who were in the vessel that escaped shipwreck, 
this Francis Marcos was the sole survivor of more than a 
thousand persons who had left the shores of New Spain full 
of joyful anticipations of a return to their native land, 
where they would become famous among their country- 
men as those who had visited far countries, performed great 
feats, seen wonderful things, and returned enriched with 
some of the treasures of Mexico. 

Notwithstanding the many disasters that had befallen 
those who had approached the shores of Florida, and 
which seemed to promise to the future invaders only disap- 
pointment and death, there yet appeared to exist some 
great attraction for the adventurous, and a belief in the 
hidden treasures of this country induced renewed efforts 
for its conquest. 

In 1556 a memorial was addressed to the emperor by 
the Viceroy of Mexico, and the Bishop of Cuba, to whose 
diocese Florida belonged, setting forth the great richness 
of Florida, and the immense benefits which would result to 
the cause of religion and to the empire from its acquisition. 

In consequence of this memorial, orders were transmitted 
to the Viceroy of New Spain to prepare an expedition for 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 8i 

the conquest and settlement of Florida, and it was said 
that such were the accounts given by those who had been 
in the expeditions of Narvaez and De Soto, of the exceed- 
ing richness of the country, that there was a widespread 
desire to engage in the enterprise. 

The expedition, which was to leave Vera Cruz in the 
spring of 1559, was planned upon an extensive scale. It 
consisted of fifteen hundred soldiers, and a large number of 
friars and zealous preachers, burning for the conversion of 
the Indians, all under the command of Don Tristan de 
Luna and other officers of experience. 

They sailed from Vera Cruz amid salvos of artillery and 
shouts of good will and kind wishes from the assembled mul- 
titude, and, gayly flinging their pennons to the breeze, they 
went forth with the most brilliant anticipations of success. 

On the 14th of August the fleet cast anchor in a bay to 
which they gave the name of Santa Maria, and described 
as a spacious and convenient harbor. This was doubtless 
the Bay of Pensacola, which we find frequently mentioned 
afterwards in the Spanish relations as the Bay of Santa 
Maria. 

Upon their arrival at this point, dispatch-vessels were 
sent to Mexico and Spain to announce their progress and 
confirm the opinions entertained of the value of the country. 
Reconnoitring expeditions were sent along the rivers, and 
preparations made for exploring the interior. On the 20th 
of August, six days after their arrival, there was a terrible 
gale, which wrecked the entire fleet, and destroyed a large 
portion of their provisions. Don Tristan de Luna en- 
couraged his followers to persevere in their course, assur- 
ing them that supplies would soon reach them from the 
viceroy, and he directed an expedition to be fitted out, 
composed of four companies, to penetrate the country 
which was called the Province of Coca. 



82 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

With the remainder of his men he established himself at 
the port, with the hope that some opportunity would offer 
by which he might inform the viceroy of their unfortunate 
condition. 

The sergeant-major, with the four companies, traveled 
for forty days through an uninhabited country, until he 
arrived upon the banks of a river which he was unable to 
cross. Following along the banks of this river, which was 
undoubtedly the Alabama, they at length came upon' an 
Indian village, from which, on the approach of the Span- 
iards, the inhabitants all fled. They found within the 
houses a considerable supply of corn, beans, and other 
vegetable products. 

In examining the surrounding country they encountered 
some of the natives, whom they propitiated with beads 
and other trifling presents, and who, although they seemed 
surprised, made no attempt at escape. By means of an 
Indian interpreter, the Spaniards asked the name of the 
town and province, why it was deserted, and what country 
lay beyond it. They replied that the town was called 
Napicnoca ; that it had been very large and well peopled, 
but that other strangers, like the Spaniards, had destroyed 
it, and forced the inhabitants to fly, except a few who 
remained to gather the harvest.* 

The sergeant-major sent out several detachments to ex- 
amine the adjacent country, but they were greatly dis- 
couraged on finding only vast deserts and solitudes. Re- 
turning to Napicnoca, sixteen men were sent back to Santa 
Maria to report the progress of the expedition. 

In the mean time Don Tristan de Luna, who had with 
him at Santa Maria a force of over one thousand men, 
receiving no intelligence from the sergeant-major, and con- 



Undoubtedly the other strangers were De Soto and his party. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. Zt^ 

eluding from the time which had elapsed that the explor- 
ing party had been cut off by the natives, determined to 
remain no longer at the bay, where they were suffering 
from the want of provisions, their supplies being now ex- 
hausted. 

While preparing to go into the interior, the sixteen men 
sent back by the sergeant-major arrived, and, learning from 
them that at Napicnoca were corn and other supplies, De 
Luna determined to proceed with his men to that town, 
some going by land and others by the river. Upon his 
arrival, Don Tristan named the place Santa Cruz de Napic- 
noca. The large number of persons to be provisioned 
soon consumed the supplies which the sergeant-major had 
gathered, and they were obliged to rely upon such chance 
food as they could obtain, living upon acorns, which they 
partially relieved of their bitterness by boiling them first 
in salt water and afterwards in fresh water. The women 
and young children, unable to eat the acorns, lived upon 
the tender leaves and young twigs of the forest trees. They 
were soon reduced to the last stage of hunger and de- 
spair, looking forward to death as their only relief, when 
they were told of the province of Coca, which had the 
reputation of being an abundant and rich province, of 
which they had before heard, but were ignorant of the 
route to reach it. This information was gladly received; 
some of the party, who had probably visited that province 
with De Soto, assuring them that if they could once reach 
•there they would find an abundance of everything. 

De Luna thereupon sent the sergeant-major, with two 
hundred men, to explore the route to Coca, two worthy 
friars accompanying the expedition. The sergeant-major, 
now hopeful for the future, moved northwardly, forced to 
rely for food upon the roots and branches of trees ; seeming 
to have been too unskillful to obtain game. They were 



84 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

forced to eat even their thongs and straps, and seven of 
their number died of starvation and from eating poisonous 
shrubs. They found no habitations, and encountered none 
of the natives, and were so reduced as to be almost in- 
capable of either advancing or returning to their comrades ; 
but they still pushed on, until they at length entered a 
wooded country, abounding in chestnuts and hickory-nuts. 
Relieved of their sufferings, they now felt cheered to prose- 
cute their journey, and, fifty days after leaving Napicnoca, 
they came to Indian settlements upon the banks of a river 
which the Indians called Olibahaki, and farther on they 
came to small towns. 

Making friendly advances to the natives, they procured 
provisions of them in limited quantities, the natives mani- 
festing much caution and distrust. 

A miracle is reported to have occurred while they were 
in this settlement, which is illustrative of the veneration 
entertained by the Spaniards for the mysteries of their faith. 
A rude chapel had been erected, of boughs, for the purpose 
of celebrating mass, and while the priest was in the act of 
consecrating the Host, he perceived upon the edge of the 
chalice a disgusting and probably poisonous worm, so situ- 
ated that an attempt to remove it would cause its fall within 
the chalice. Perplexed by so unfortunate a circumstance, 
the priest fell upon his knees and earnestly prayed that the 
worm might not be permitted to fall into the holy sacra- 
ment, and immediately the worm fell from the cup to the 
altar, devoid of life. The priest, regarding it as a miracu- 
lous answer to his prayer, made use of the occasion to urge 
upon the company constancy and conformity in their works, 
at all times, to the will of God.* 
- The sergeant-major remained quite as long as was accept- 

* Barcia, Ensayo Cronologico, p 34. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 85 

able to his host on the Olibahaki, and they soon devised a 
plan for relieving themselves of their guests, which was no 
less cunning than amusing. Dressing up one of their num- 
ber en g7'and seignevr, with proper attendants, they sent him 
to the camp of the Spaniards to represent himself to them 
as an ambassador from the cacique of the province of Coca, 
empowered to extend to them an urgent invitation to visit 
that province, and offering to act as a guide. The Span- 
iards gladly accepted the invitation, made much of the 
supposed ambassador, and informed him that they would at 
once set out with him for Coca. They marched out with 
high expectations, but at the close of the first day's march 
their guide disappeared, leaving them to find their way to 
Coca as best they could. 

Finding themselves duped, some counseled a return to 
Olibahaki, but the majority preferred to go on, and a few 
days afterwards reached the object of their search, — the 
far-famed province of Coca. The principal town of this 
province contained about thirty houses, and there were 
seven other towns belonging to this tribe. The land, in 
consequence of the want of cultivation, did not appear so 
productive as had been reported in Mexico by the sur- 
vivors of De Soto's expedition. The neglect of the soil 
was attributed by the Indians to the fact that the people 
had fled from their habitations and fields, and been dis- 
persed by the followers of De Soto. 

The sergeant-major remained at Coca seven days, receiv- 
ing every mark of attention from the natives. Learning that 
the people of Coca were at war with a neighboring tribe, 
the Spaniards proposed, in recompense for the kindness 
they had received, to assist their friends of Coca, — a pro- 
posal which the Indians gladly accepted. Meanwhile, the 
friars were not unmindful of the spiritual purposes of their 
mission, and sought to enlighten the minds and reach the 

8 



86 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

hearts of the natives, portraying to them, to the best of their 
ability, the truths of the gospel ; but with little success, 
the Indians, it is said, being more intent upon punishing 
their enemies than upon the salvation of their own souls. 
The expedition against the Napaches, by the aid of the 
Spaniards, proved successful, no loss being sustained on 
either side, and a satisfactory treaty being made between 
the tribes. 

The sergeant-major proceeded to examine the country 
with a view to settlement, and in the mean time dispatched 
an officer with twelve men to report to the general, who, 
with eight hundred of his followers, had remained at 
Napicnoca. 

De Luna, having remained at the latter place for some 
time, and receiving ^no intelligence from the sergeant- 
major, concluded to return to the Bay of Santa Maria. 
Some of his party during their stay at the Indian town had 
died of hunger, and others had become greatly enfeebled. 
Before leaving, he buried at the foot of a tree a vase con- 
taining a scroll, with directions for any of the Coca expe- 
dition who should return there ; and on the tree he cut the 
words, '■'■Dig below.'' The Spaniards arrived at Santa Maria 
after a journey of severe toils and sufferings. At their own 
request, the friars were permitted to set sail Avith two small 
vessels for Havana, and to proceed thence to New Spain to 
procure succor for their companions. 

The twelve soldiers dispatched by the sergeant-major 
reached Napicnoca in twelve days, traversing in this space 
of time the distance which the Spaniards had taken seventy 
days to pass over upon their advance. Arriving at Napic- 
noca, the detachment were surprised to see no signs of the 
Spaniards who had been left there, but, entering the town, 
they observed the inscription upon the tree, and disinterred 
the vase containing instructions for them, and rejoiced to 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 87 

learn that their friends were still living. Then pushing on 
with all haste to Santa Maria, which was forty leagues dis- 
tant, they reached there in three days, when they met with 
a joyful reception from their friends. 

The party which had been sent by the sergeant-major 
delivered the letters with which he had intrusted them for 
the general ; and to the inquiries eagerly made in the camp 
as to "the character of the country which they had visited, 
they replied, making a very unfav^orable report of the 
regions which they had passed through, enlarging upon 
the trials and sufferings they had undergone, and depre- 
ciating the province of Coca. These reports caused great 
discontent in the camp, and disposed a large number to 
advocate the instant abandonment of such a country. 

Juan de Ceron, the master of the camp, and others of 
the principal officers, expressed their opinion openly, and 
De Luna, in calling his officers together to announce to 
them his determination to proceed to the province of Coca, 
was met by a stout opposition on the part of De Ceron 
and those who entertained his views. The general, in reply 
to those who had no faith in the value of Coca, charged 
them with a desire to avoid the labor and trials attending 
the march and settlement of the country, and said that 
they were influenced more by their indolence than other 
reasons, and issued his orders that all should prepare for 
the march to Coca. But the discontent had already ex- 
tended to the larger part of the army, and, supported in 
their opposition by their officers, they set at defiance the 
authority of the general, and secretly sent word to the 
sergeant-major to return to Santa Maria. The messenger 
sent by them arrived safely at Coca, and informed the 
sergeant-major that the general commanded his return, as 
the army was about to leave the country. The Indians of 
Coca parted from the Spaniards with great regret, accom- 



88 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

panying them two or three days' journey, and crying with 
great demonstrations of affection. The sergeant-major 
arrived at Santa Maria in the beginning of November, 
having been engaged some seven months in this explora- 
tion of the country. 

Events often derive their importance from the skill 
with which they are narrated; and had this journey of 
the sergeant-major been sufficiently fortunate to have a 
chronicler like Cabe^a de Vaca, doubtless it would have 
been regarded with as much interest as the expeditions of 
Narvaez and De Soto. The route pursued cannot be very 
well traced, the slight notices of natural objects and the 
unrecognizable names of towns giving no clue to identifi- 
cation. It is quite probable that the river encountered on 
their march to Napicnoca was the Alabama, and that the 
Indian town was somewhere near Camden. The twelve 
days' travel thence to Coca was through the pine-barrens 
and sand-hills of South Alabama, and the Olibahaki was 
the Coosa or Alabama. The province of Coca was the 
Coosa country in the northeastern part of Alabama. 

Upon the return of the sergeant-major to the Bay of 
Santa Maria, the camp still remained divided. The gen- 
eral retained his purpose to remain in the country, and the 
disaffected were equally determined to depart from that 
region. All respect for authority was weakened, and the 
quarrel became so violent as to render useless the efforts 
of the priests to reconcile it. The general, jealous of his 
authority and indignant at the opposition of his officers, 
became daily more harsh and irritable. 

In the mean time, the two vessels which had gone with 
the friars to procure relief reached Havana in safety, and 
thence proceeded to Vera Cruz, where they carried to the 
unwilling ears of the Viceroy their tale of the sufferings 
and disappointments which had attended the expedition. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. gc^ 

He was loath to credit the information; but the high char- 
acter of the envoy, Don Pedro de Feria, afterwards Bishop 
of Chiapa, gave no room to doubt the painful truth. It 
was a sad disappointment, after all the flattering accounts 
which had been brought to Mexico of the riches and fer- 
tility of the country, to be compelled to believe otherwise. 
The viceroy promptly sent off the two vessels loaded with 
provisions to Santa Maria. 

This opportune relief produced no change in the condi- 
tion of affairs at the camp of Don Tristan de Luna. Five 
long months they lingered on the shores of Santa Maria, 
each party inflexibly adhering to its resolution, so that the 
general could not proceed with his expedition, nor could 
the disaff"ected leave the hated shores. A reconciliation 
was finally effected, from the foot of the altar, by the skill 
and energy of Father Domingo. 

At length there arrived at the port of Santa Maria, Don 
Angel de Villafane, who had been sent out by the Viceroy 
of Cuba as Governor of Florida, with instructions to make 
an examination of the shores of the gulf, which, in con- 
sequence of the continual storms, he had been imable to do. 
Upon his arrival, councils were held by the officers as to 
the course which it was advisable to pursue. The general 
and a few others desired to continue the enterprise, but the 
larger number preferred to abandon the country. Those 
who desired to leave embarked on the vessels of Don 
Angel de Villafane. 

Don Tristan de Luna, with a few of his followers, re- 
mained at the Bay of Santa Maria, and communicated to 
the Viceroy of Mexico the events which had occurred, the 
obstacles he had encountered, and his views of the manner 
of remedying them; but the Viceroy, discouraged by the 
failures which had hitherto attended the expedition, and 



go HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

unwilling further to pursue it, recalled De Luna, and aban- 
doned his efforts for the conquest of Florida. 

Thus ended the most considerable and best-appointed 
expedition which had ever landed on the shores of Florida, 
and which, under better management, might have been 
measurably successful in planting a colony on the banks of 
the Coosa. Although no such terrible disaster attended 
this as had befallen the previous expeditions, yet the priva- 
tions and sufferings which were undergone were well calcu- 
lated to deter others from a renewal of the attempt. 

The cavalier Don Tristan de Luna remained to the last, 
unwilling to turn his back upon a country the conquest of 
which had been assigned to him, and which he was satisfied 
was really valuable and productive. The clergy, who had 
in considerable numbers been attached to the expedition, 
added their voices to those who felt unwilling to remain, 
and De Luna was forced to abandon the beautiful Bay of 
Santa Maria, and leave the occupation of the country he 
had explored to be accomplished by succeeding generations. 

It seems evident, upon comparing the narrative of the 
expedition of the sergeant-major of De Luna with the ac- 
counts of Cabe^a de Vaca and De Soto, that the sergeant- 
major must have wandered through some barren portion of 
Lower Alabama, and failed to reach more than the out- 
skirts of the numerous Indian settlements in the country 
bordering on the Coosa and the Tennessee Rivers, and 
which De Vaca and De Soto had rightly described as rich 
and fertile. 

This expedition of De Luna possesses much interest, as 
establishing the fact that a settlement of Spaniards occupied 
the shores of the Bay of Pensacola in 1561, and that the 
whole of that region was known to them. Moreover, this 
was the last of the exploring expeditions which visited 
Florida, and occurred only a year prior to the landing of 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. . ^I 

the French Huguenots, under Ribaut, on the eastern coast, 
and only antedated by four years the permanent settlement 
of Florida, effected by Pedro de Menendez. It is but just 
that among the historic names connected with the discovery 
and exploration of Florida should be remembered that of 
Don Tristan de Luna. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Huguenot Settlements at Charles Fort under Ribaut, and at Fort 
Caroline under Laudonniere. 



1562— 1564. 

We have hitherto accompanied through the wilds of 
Florida the cavaliers of Spain, who, with the sound of the 
trumpet and the battle-cry of St. lago, carried devastation 
and slaughter in their march. They styled themselves 
Conquistadors ; their purpose was conquest, and their 
principal object the acquisition of gold, silver, and pearls. 
A country which promised rich rewards to the patient and 
laborious pursuits of the agriculturist offered no induce- 
ments to them. They had been corrupted and engorged 
with the plunder of Mexico and the spoil of Peru. They 
sought not to create wealth, but to seize and appropriate it 
wherever found, and they had little regard to the amount 
of suffering they caused the unhappy natives of the land, 
if either by torture or destruction they could force the dis- 
covery of their treasures. 

Their efforts in Florida had proved fruitless. Where they 
had looked for easy conquest and great reward they had 
found only privation and toils, and had met a race fierce 
and implacable, who lacked only the means of offensive 
warfare to sweep their invaders from their shores. Narvaez 
and his followers had perished ingloriously in their attempt 
to leave a land hostile at every step, and the miserable 
remnant of the force of De Soto, baffled in all their efforts, 

(90 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 93 

had barely escaped into Mexico. The fruitless expedition 
of De Luna had failed of its object, and the whole of the 
vast country, from Mexico to the Polar Seas and from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific, contained not a single settlement of 
the white race. The dreams of conquest were over, and 
the adventurers were well satisfied to leave in peace "the 
richest country of the world." 

An entirely different class of persons now made their 
appearance upon the shores of Florida, the principal 
aim of whom was colonization and settlement. They 
were of a different race and had come from different 
motives. 

The weak and vacillating Charles IX. was King of 
France, and the Admiral De Chastellan, better known as 
the famous Coligny, was at the head of the Protestant 
party. Civil war raged between the votaries of the two 
religious bodies between whom the kingdom was divided. 
The transatlantic discoveries and settlements of the Span- 
iards in Mexico, Peru, and the Spanish Main suggested 
to the astute mind of the admiral the idea of founding be- 
yond the sea a new empire which might extend the pos- 
sessions of France, and at the same time strengthen, and, 
in case of need, afford a refuge to, the Huguenots, if borne 
down in their contest at home. 

An expedition was fitted out, and sailed in February, 
1562, consisting of two good vessels, under Captain Jean 
Ribaut, an officer of much experience and considerable 
reputation. A prosperous voyage brought them directly to 
the coast of Florida, in the neighborhood of St. Augustine. 
Sailing to the northward, they discovered the entrance of 
the St. John's River, landed, and erected a monument of 
stone, on which was engraved the arms of France, it being 
placed, it is said, within the said river, and not far 
from the mouth thereof, upon a little sandy knap. They 



94 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

named the river the river May, because they entered it 
upon the first day of that month. 

Re-embarking, they sailed to the northward, landing 
occasionally, and being received with kindness by the 
numerous Indians they encountered, to whom they gave 
presents of trifling value, such as looking-glasses and tin 
bracelets, with which they were much pleased. 

After sailing about ninety leagues to the north, they 
entered the harbor of Port Royal, and anchored. For 
several days they made excursions up the adjoining rivers, 
making peaceable overtures to the Indians, with whom they 
were now upon terms of amity. 

Ribaut finally concluded to plant his colony at this 
point, but it was a question as to what portion of his fol- 
lowers would be willing to remain alone upon these un- 
known shores. 

He thereupon called his men together and made them a 
skillful oration, which is reported to us with all the fullness 
of a modern "Herald" report. Adorning and illustrating 
his speech by various references to classical antiquity, he 
closed by saying, " How much, then, ought so many worthy 
examples to move you to plant here, considering also that 
you shall be registered forever as the first that inhabited 
this strange country ! I pray you therefore all to advise 
yourselves thereof, and to deliver your mind freely unto 
me, protesting that I will so well imprint your names in 
the king's ears and the other princes, that your renown 
shall hereafter thrive unquenchably through our realms of 
France." Such has ever been the peculiarity of the Gallic 
race ; they appeal, not to the appetite for gain, not to the 
riches to be acquired, but, from Charlemagne to Napoleon 
III., honor to France and renown to themselves have been 
the incentives to performance of duty and great enterprise. 
Ribaut judged rightly of the effect of such an appeal to the 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



95 



hearts of Frenchmen. He had hardly ended his oration 
when the majority of the soldiers replied that a greater 
pleasure could never betide them, perceiving well the ac- 
ceptable service which by this means they do unto their 
prince, besides that this thing should be for the increase 
of their honors ; whereupon, it is said, Jean Ribaut, being 
as glad as might be to see his men so well willing, deter- 
mined at once to search out a place most fit and convenient 
to be inhabited. The matter was a momentous one — an 
empire was to be founded, and a continent taken possession 
of; \X was felt to be a great occasion, and the minds of the 
little band ran forward to the time when a New France, 
with its peopled cities, its rich and fertile fields, its coasts, 
whitened with the sails of commerce, would be in existence, 
and they remembered in those after-days as the first occu- 
pants of this vast country. 

A small fort was erected upon a little island and named 
Charles Fort ; twenty-five men were selected to remain, and 
placed under the command of Captain Albert. Supplies of 
ammunition and provisions were left, and with a parting 
salute of artillery, replied to from the fort, the vessels left 
the infant settlement, and the destinies of New France were 
centred in that little fort. The Indians were on terms of 
amity, and everything promised fair for the future. 

Ribaut, satisfied with this beginning, returned to France, 
having been absent about four months. 

The colony left at Charles Fort prospered for some 
time, and made various excursions among the Indians, 
by whom they were well received and lovingly entreated. 
Indeed, the French seemed to have a peculiar faculty of 
ingratiating themselves ; and the whole history of their ex- 
plorations, in every part of America, shows most uniform 
and remarkable success in conciliating and securing the 
affection of the savage tribes. 



gS HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

The secret consists most probably in the peculiarly 
adaptable and versatile talent of the French, enabling them 
to accommodate themselves with ease to any customs or 
usages, and putting them at once at home wherever they 
may happen to be placed. Another reason is, that they 
are skilled in the art of pantomime, the only language at 
all available upon first meeting with a tribe whose language 
is unknown. The Frenchman, with his varying gestures, 
his expressive shrug, his flexible features, his animated 
manner of expressing himself, would soon be on a good 
footing and smoking a pipe with the cacique, where the 
stately Don would be expressing his pleasure in pure Cas- 
tilian and making gestures at the end of his lance, or the 
Englishman, with his phlegmatic temperament, would be 
attempting a direct negotiation. Whether as missionaries, 
explorers, or traders, the French have ever been foremost 
in the facility with which they have managed their red 
brethren. A very little additional aid to French coloniza- 
tion would have made the United States indeed a New 
France. 

Captain Albert made an excursion to a country called the 
Ouade, probably the Savannah River, where the cacique, 
after supplying them with corn, it is said, gave them a cer- 
tain number of exceeding fair pearls, two stones of fine 
crystal, and certain silver ore, and being inquired of where 
the ore and crystals came from, they answered that it came 
ten days' journey, and that the inhabitants there dig the 
same at the foot of certain high mountains, referring, it is 
quite evident, to the gold regions of Georgia. 

It had been the intention of Ribaut, when he left the 
colony, to return immediately with a much larger force, 
and provided with everything necessary to establish a per- 
manent settlement ; but, when he returned to France, 
civil war was raging, and nothing could be done, and the 



' HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 97 

existence of Captain Albert and Charles Fort was almost 
forgotten. 

Anxiously did the little garrison await the promised re- 
turn. Their provisions were becoming more scarce, and, 
day by day, they in vain scanned the horizon in the hope 
of descrying relief; but none came, and with disappoint- 
ment came discontent. 

Their captain became exacting and tyrannical and the 
men careless and disobedient. A difficulty arising with one 
Guerlache, a poor drummer, he was ordered to be hung by 
the captain, and this conclusive evidence of civilization was 
carried into effect ; another he placed on an island to starve, 
and then it was determined to remove Albert by taking his 
life, which they soon did. Months had rolled past since Ri- 
baut was to have returned. After the death of Albert they 
chose one Nicolas Barre as their captain; and finally, de- 
spairing of the return of Ribaut, they determined to attempt 
to get away. They had not a single ship-carpenter among 
them, but they managed to build a small pinnace, probably a 
mere shallop. They covered it with moss, made the cordage 
of palmettos, and the sails of their shirts and linen. In this 
miserable little affair, caulked with moss, and with such sails, 
this little band attempted to cross the stormy ocean which 
separated them from their native land. It would seem as 
though the first shock of a tempest would have buried them 
beneath the waves. They had not laid in sufficient provisions 
for their long voyage, and, although the calms they encoun- 
tered were favorable to their safety, they were soon placed 
in danger of starvation. Listlessly floating upon the sea, 
becalmed for many days, they were reduced to terrible ex- 
tremities, until at last they cast lots for the life of one of 
their number, and Leclerc was sacrificed, and his flesh di- 
vided equally — ''a thing so pitiful," says the writer, "that 
my pen is loath to write it." Fortunately, they were 

9 



98 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

soon after fallen in with by an English vessel and rescued. 
It seems wonderful that they should have escaped at all, 
for so crazy a craft never crossed the Atlantic. 

After the truce between the contending parties in France, 
Coligny turned his attention to the occupation of Florida, 
and on the 22d of April, 1564, he dispatched thither three 
vessels, respectively, of one hundred and twenty, one hun- 
dred, and sixty tons burden, under command of Rene de 
Laudonniere, who- had accompanied Ribaut in the first 
expedition. 

This Rene seems to have been a clever young man, some- 
what fussy and undecided, and considerably elevated by 
his first command. In person, if Le Moyne's pictures are 
correct, he was small and slight, with a pleasant counte- 
nance. The Indian chiefs are represented as towering a 
head and shoulders above him. 

On Thursday, the 2 2d day of June, 1564, about three 
o'clock in the afternoon, Laudonniere says he came to the 
land, went on shore near a little river which is 30° distant 
from the equator, and ten leagues above Cape Frangois, 
drawing towards the south, and about 30° above the river 
May. "After wx had stricken sail and cast anchor athwart 
the river, I determined to go on shore to discover the same. 
Therefore being accompanied with Monsieur d'Ottigni and 
Monsieur d'Arlac, my ensigne, and a certain number of 
soMiers, I embarked myself about 3 or 4 of the clock in 
the evening, and arrived at the mouth of the river. I 
caused the channel to be sounded, which was found to be 
very shallow, although that further within the same the 
water was there found reasonably deep, which separated 
itself with two great arms, whereof one runneth toward 
the south and the other toward the north. Having thus 
searched the river, I went on land to speak with the In- 
dians which waited for us on the shore, which, at our 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 99 

incoming on land, came before us crying with a loud voice 
their Indian language, Antipola, benassan, which is as much 
as to say, brother, friend, or some such thing. After they 
had seen very much of us they showed us their paracoussi, 
that is to say their king and governor, to whom I presented 
certain toyes, wherewith he was well pleased ; and for mine 
own part I pray God continually for the great love which I 
have found in these savages, which were sorry for nothing but 
that the night approached and made us retire unto our 
ships. For though they endeavoured by all means to make 
us tarry with them, and showed by signals the desire they 
had to present us with some rare things, yet, nevertheless, 
for many and reasonable occasions^ I would not stay on shore 
all night, but excusing myself for all their offers, I embarked 
myself again and returned toward my ships. Howbeit, 
before mine departure, I named their river the River of 
Dolphins, because that at mine arrival I saw there a great 
number of dolphins which were playing in the mouth 
thereof." 

This account by Laudonniere himself, of his first landing 
on the coast of Florida, is given at length, for the reason 
that it is the harbor of St. Augustine which he describes; 
and the spot where that city is now built was the scene of 
the interview which he here relates. The two arms of the 
river, running to the north and south, are the North River 
and the Matanzas River, and the shallow water on the bar, 
and the gentle and pleasant courtesy which characterized 
the natives, may be said to be perpetuated to this day. In 
the volume of De Bry, relating to Florida, the first plate 
contains a striking picture of the River of Dolphins, a boat 
with Captain Laudonniere about landing, a large number 
of the natives on the shore. One group represents the 
paracoussi, seated upon a carpet of green leaves, surrounded 
with his people, awaiting the landing of the French, whose 



lOo HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

three vessels are at anchor. The pahii, the pine, and the 
cedar are represented as growing on the shore. 

On the next day they sailed for the mouth of the river 
May, the St. John's, where Laudonniere was shown by the 
Indians the column erected by Ribaut. After examining 
various localities, Laudonniere concluded to establish his 
settlement at the point now known as St. John's Bluff. 

The reasons which induced a location upon the St. John, 
as given by Laudonniere himself, were that *'to the south- 
ward there was nothing but a flat, marshy country, unfit to 
inhabit, and, from the report of those who were left at 
Charles Fort, the country thereabouts was not productive, 
while the means of subsistence seemed to abound on the 
river May ; and upon their first visit they had seen gold and 
silver in the possession of the natives, a thing which put 
me in hope," he says, " of some happy discovery in time 
to come." 

The poetic nature of the Frenchman, and his eye for 
natural beauty, was kindled as he explored the margin of 
the river; and to one place which pleased his fancy, at the 
request of his soldiers, he gave the name of the Vale of 
Laudonniere — his eye charmed with the green meadows and 
bright visions of spring. 

Having fixed upon the spot upon which to erect the fort, 
he commanded the trumpet to sound, and assembled his 
men, to return thanks to God for their favorable and happy 
arrival. ^'Thus they sang hymns of praise to the Lord, 
supplicating that His holy grace might be continued to His 
poor servants, and aid them in all undertakings which they 
desired should redound to His glory and the advancement 
of our Holy Faith." They laid out their fort in the form 
of a triangle, and received some assistance from the Indians 
in its construction. 

An expedition went up the river in boats, and at twenty 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. TOi 

leagues' distance, probably about Mandarin, they came to 
an Indian town called Thimagua, and by the Indians of 
this tribe he was informed of nine other kings or caciques, 
named Cadecha, Chilili, Eclanan, Enacoppe, Calany, Ana- 
charagua, Anitagua, ^quera, Mucoso. The last named 
will be recognized as the protector of Juan Ortiz, thirty 
years before. From time to time, boat expeditions were 
made to the tribes settled along the river, and they had 
frequent applications to assist the caciques in their wars 
against each other, and on several occasions did so. to 
strengthen themselves with their neighbors. 

On the 29th of August, 1564, it is said ''a lightning 
from heaven fell within half a league of our fort, more 
worthy to be wondered at and put in writing than any of 
the strange signs which have been seen in times past, and 
whereof histories have been written. For although the 
meadows were then green, and half covered with water, 
nevertheless the lightning, in one instant, consumed about 
five hundred acres, therewith, and burned, with the ardent 
heat thereof, all the souls which took their pasture in the 
meadows, which thing continued for three days space, 
which caused us not a little to muse, not being able to 
judge whereof the fire proceeded. For one while we 
thought the Indians had burned their houses and aban- 
doned their places for fear of us. Another while we 
thought they had discovered some ships at sea, and that, 
according to their customs, they had kindled many fires 
here and there to signify that their country was inhabited ; 
nevertheless, being not assured, I was upon the point to 
send some one by boats to discover the matter, when six 
Indians came to me from Paracoussi Allimicany, which, at 
their first entry, made me a long discourse, and a very long 
and ample oration (after they had presented me with cer- 
tain baskets full of maize, of pumpkins, and of grapes) of the 

9* 



I02 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

loving amity which AUimicany desired to continue with 
me, and that he looked from day to day where it would 
please me to employ him in my service. Therefore, con- 
sidering the serviceable affection that he bore unto me, he 
found it very strange that I thus discharged mine ordinance 
against his dwelling, which had burnt up an infinite sight 
of green meadows, and consumed even down unto the 
water, and came so near unto his mansion that he thought 
he saw the fire in his house ; wherefore he besought me 
most humbly to command my men that they would not 
shoot any more towards his lodgings, otherwise he would 
be constrained to abandon his country, and to retire him- 
self unto some place farther off from us," 

The French commander, seeing that the Indians thought 
this wonderful stroke of lightning had proceeded from 
their cannon, encouraged the idea, and informed them he 
was glad they were inclined to be peaceable ; that he could 
easily have reached his house, some miles distant, if he had 
chosen, but that he only fired half-way to show them his 
power. All this the Indians believed, and the paracoussi 
would not come within twenty-five leagues of the fort for 
two months. "Two days afterward there followed such an 
excessive heat in the air, that the river became so hot that 
I " think it was almost ready to seethe, for there died so 
great abundance of fish, and that of so many divers sorts, 
that in the mouth of the river only there were found dead 
enough to have laden fifty carts, whereof there issued a 
putrefaction in the air which bred many dangerous dis- 
eases amongst us, inasmuch as most of my men fell sick and 
almost ready to end their days. Yet, notwithstanding, it 
pleased our merciful God so far to provide by his Provi- 
dence, that all our men got well." 

In September one of the Frenchmen pretended that by 
the secret art of magic he had discovered a mine of gold 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



103 



and silver, far up within the river, and that their captain 
was intending to conceal it from them. Acting upon the 
credulity of others, he soon organized a conspiracy to make 
way with Laudonniere. 

At this time Laudonniere sent a small vessel back to 
France, under the command of Captain Bourdett, and with 
him seven or eight of those whose fidelity he suspected. 
He was subsequently prostrated by fever, and the dis- 
contented in his garrison proceeded to an open con- 
spiracy. They seized his person, and confined him upon 
a small vessel in the river for fifteen days. 

For the purpose of explorations by water, Laudonniere 
had constructed two small vessels. These they seized, and 
taking from the fort whatever they required, they set out 
upon a freebooting expedition against the Spaniards, or 
anybody else they might meet. The vessels were separated, 
and each went on its course. One of them captured the 
first vessel they met, and abandoned their own ; afterwards, 
cruising among the islands, they made another capture, 
and were finally most of them taken and destroyed. A 
small brigantine, escaping pursuit, returned to Fort Caro- 
line, and Laudonniere had them tried by court-martial, and 
the four leaders were sentenced to be hung. It is related 
" that when they found their proximity to Fort Caroline, 
in a kind of mockery, they counterfeited judges; but 
they played not this prank until they had tippled well 
of the wine they had on board. One counterfeited the 
judge, another Captain Laudonniere ; another, after he 
had heard the matter pleaded, concluded thus: 'Make you 
your causes as good as it pleases you, but if, when you come to 
the Fort Caroline, the captain causes you not to be hanged, T 
will never take him for an honest man. ' Others thought that, 
his choler being past, he would easily forget the matter." 

Being out of provisions, they were obliged, however, 



I04 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



to enter the river and submit to Laudonniere. The only 
modification of the sentence of death upon the four leaders 
was that, being soldiers, they should be first shot before 
being hung. Being led out to execution, one of them en- 
deavored to excite a rescue ; but they were all four shot, 
and then hanged upon gibbets at the mouth of the river. 
Thus early did this sad emblem of crime and human de- 
pravity succeed the planting of the sign of man's redemp- 
tion upon our shores. 

During this period, Laudonniere heard that two white 
men were living at a distance among the Indians. He at 
once sent word to the caciques of the neighboring tribes 
that he would give a large reward to have them brought to 
him. He soon obtained them. They were naked, wear- 
ing their hair long to their hips, in the Indian fashion. 
They were Spaniards by birth, but had been fifteen years 
among the Indians, having been wrecked upon the keys 
called the Martyrs. They said a considerable number 
were saved, and among them several women, who had 
married among the Indians and had families, so that pos- 
sibly the descendants of these Spaniards may be among 
the Seminoles to this day. Among other excursions which 
were made, was one to the widow of King Hia-caia, whose 
domain seems to have been at St. Mary's. It is said ''she 
courteously received our men, sent me back my barks full 
of beans and acornes, with certain baskets of cassina, where- 
with they make their drinke. And the place where this 
widow dwelleth is the most plentiful of any that is in all 
the coast, and the most pleasant. It is thought that the 
queene is the most beautiful of all the Indians, and of whom 
they make the most account, yea, and her subjects honor 
her so much, that almost continually they carry her on 
their shoulders, and will not suffer her to go on foot." In 
De Bry there is an engraving made from a sketch of Jacques 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA, 



105 



Morgues,* who accompanied this deputation, representing 
her Majesty in her state procession. At the head appear 
two trumpeters blowing upon reeds. Then follow six 
chiefs bearing a canopied platform, on which is seated, 
shaded by a leafy canopy, her Majesty in the person of a 
beautiful female. Around her neck is a cordon of pearls ; 
bracelets and anklets adorn the person, et prceterea nihil. 
On each side walk other chiefs, holding large feather shades 
or fans; beautiful young girls bearing baskets of fruits and 
flowers follow next to the queen, and then warriors and her 
household guards. 

An excursion to Lake George and the island at its mouth 
— now called Drayton Island — is thus mentioned : 

" I sent my two barks to discover along the river, and up 
towards the head thereof, which went so far up that they 
were thirty leagues good beyond a place named Matthiaqua; 
and there they discovered the entrance of a lake, upon the 
one side whereof no land can be seen, according to the re- 
port of the Indians, which was the cause that my men went 
no further, but returned backe, and in coming home went to 
see the Island of Edelano, situated in the midst of the 
river, as faire a place as any that may be seen through the 
world, for, in the space of three leagues that it may contain 
in length and breadth, a man may see an exceeding rich 
country and marvellously peopled. At the coming out of 
the village of Edelano to go unto the river's side, a man 
must pass through an alley about three hundred paces long 
and fifty paces broad, on both sides whereof great trees are 
planted ; the boughs thereof are tied like an arch, and meet 
together so artificially, that a man would think that it were 
an arbor made of purpose, as fair, I say, as any in all Chris- 
tendom, although it be altogether natural." 

* Sometimes called Le Moyne. 



lo6 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

They had expected succor from France, by the end of 
April, 1545, at the uttermost, and had not been prudent 
in the saving of their provisions. They had latterly lived 
upon the provisions they obtained from the Indians, but 
as spring and summer came on they began to suffer from 
want, and, the season wearing on, they despaired of re- 
ceiving help from home, and resolved to leave the country 
so soon as they could repair their vessels, or build another. 
They were now in great straits to keep from starvation, 
and besought the Indians to furnish them. But the natives 
now became very exacting, and soon exhausted the store 
of articles suitable for presents which the French had with 
them. At last, finding themselves unable to procure of the 
savages provisions to victual their vessels, they determined 
to abandon the peaceful policy which they had hitherto 
pursued towards the Indians, and, by capturing one of the 
leading chiefs, force a large amount of provisions for his 
ransom. They thereupon seized Olata Utina, a great chief, 
and held him prisoner, but they failed to procure the ex- 
pected ransom, and embittered the Indians fruitlessly. 
Afterwards they obtained some relief from the new corn in 
he Indian fields near them, and the fair queen, before 
spoken of, gave them a liberal quantity. In the mean 
time they pushed forward with all diligence their prepara- 
tions for leaving. 

In August there appeared on the coast four vessels, 
being the fleet of Sir John Hawkins, returning from an ex- 
pedition to the Spanish Main. They came in for a supply 
of water, and were received and entertained by Laudon- 
niere with the best he had, even, he says, ''killing certain 
sheep and poultry which he had hitherto carefully preserved 
to stock the country withal." 

Sir John, seeing the distress they were in, generously of- 
fered to transport them all back to France, which Laudon-' 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



107 



niere declined, because, he says, he was "in doubt upon 
what occasion he made so large an offer, for I knew not how 
the case stood between the French and English ; and though 
he promised me, on his faith, to put me on land, in France, 
before he would touch England, yet I stood in doubt least 
he should attempt somewhat in Florida in the name of his 
mistress. Therefore I flatly refused his offer. ' ' The garrison, 
however, hearing of the offer made by the English general, 
had no such scruples, and said they would go, unless he 
made some arrangement for their departure. Laudonniere 
finally effected the purchase of the smallest of the English 
vessels. The English commander acted very handsomely, 
leaving the French to put their own valuation upon the 
vessel, who judged it worth seven hundred crowns. In pay- 
ment of this sum, he delivered them four pieces of artillery, 
one thousand of iron, and one thousand of powder. 

Seeing the small amount of provisions the French had on 
hand. Sir John most generously supplied them with twenty 
barrels of meal, five pipes of beans, a hogshead of salt, one 
hundred pounds of wax, to make candles with ; forasmuch, 
as it is said, he saw the French soldiers were barefoot, he 
took compassion upon them and gave them fifty pairs of 
shoes ; besides this, he made presents to all the officers. 
As soon as Sir John had sailed, they made all diligence to 
get their stores ready for their departure, and by the 15 th of 
August they had everything ready, and awaited fair winds. 

It was with no pleasant feelings they prepared to leave 
a country to which they seemed to have become much at- 
tached. Laudonniere says, " There was none of us to whom 
it was not an extreme grief to leave a country wherein we 
had endured so great travails and necessities, to discover 
that which we must forsake through our own countryman's 
fault. I leave it your cogitation to think how near it went 
lo our hearts to leave a place abounding in riches, as we 



lo8 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

were thoroughly enformed thereof in coming whereunto, and 
doing service unto our prince, we left our own country, 
wives, children, parents, and friends, and passed the perils 
of the sea, and were therein arrived, as in a plentiful trea- 
sure of all our hearts' desire." 

The question naturally suggests itself, how did it happen 
that, in a country abounding in the means of subsistence, 
this colony should have been reduced to such distress? 
Theirs was no peculiar case; in every instance of an at- 
tempt at settlement withm the limits of the United 
States the same thing occurred : after they had eaten up 
what they had brought with them and what they could ob- 
tain of the Indians, they invariably starved. They were 
generally either soldiers, or persons not accustomed to 
labor, and their idea of obtaining the means of subsistence 
was the commissary's store, or the market ; the labor of 
their own hands in the field they never looked to, and did 
not seem to know how to avail themselves of the resources 
of hunting and fishing. At this very period the river 
which ran by Fort Caroline abounded in fish and oysters, 
and, when literally starving, the Indians caught fish before 
their eyes, and demanded such prices as they chose. The 
example of the Indian fields of maize was before them, and 
yet they planted not a seed. 

In interesting juxtaposition with Laudonniere's own ac- 
count of his troubles, and of the visit of the English fleet, 
we have the account of this visit from one of Sir John 
Hawkins's expedition, who, after speaking of the condi- 
tion in which he found the French, says : ^'Notwithstanding 
the great want that the Frenchmen had, the ground doth 
yield victuals sufficient, if they would have taken pains to 
get the same ; but they, being soldiers, desired to live by 
the sweat of other men's brows. The ground yieldeth 
naturally grapes in great store, for in the time the French- 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 109 

men were there, they made twenty hogsheads of wine. 
Also it yieldeth roots, passing good; deeres marvellous 
good, with divers others beasts and fowl serviceable to the 
use of man. There be things wherewith a man may live, 
having maize wherewith to make bread, for maize maketh 
good savory bread and cakes, as fine as flour; also it 
maketh good meale, beaten and sodden with water, and 
eateth like pap wherewith we feed children, a good drink, 
nourishable, which the French did use to drink of in the 
morning, and it assuageth their thirst, so that they had no 
neede to drink all the day after.* 

*'The commodities of this land are more than are yet 
known to any man ; for besides the land itself, whereof 
there is more than any Christian king is able to inhabit, it 
flourisheth with meadow pasture-ground, with woods of 
cedar and Cyprus, and other sorts, as better cannot be in 
the world. They have for apothecary, herbs, roots, and 
gums great store, as storax liquida, turpentine, gum myrrhe, 
and frankincense. 

''Of beasts in the country, besides deer, foxes, hares, 
pole-cats, conies, ounces, and leopards, I am not able cer- 
tainly to say, but it is thought that there are lions and 
tigers, as well as unicorns ; lions especially. Also venom- 
ous beasts, such as crocodiles, whereof there is a great 

* " The Floridians, when they travel, have a kind of herbe dried, 
who, with a cane, and earthen cup in the end with fire and the dried 
herbs put together, doe suck throu a cane the smoke thereof, which 
smoke satisfieth their hunger, and therewith they live four or five days 
without meate or drinke ; and this all the Frenchmen used for this pur- 
pose; yet doe they hold, withal, that it causeth them to reject from 
their stomachs, and spit out water and phlegm." 

This wonderful weed, or dried herb, was, of course, tobacco; al- 
though, from a defect in the quality, probably, it does not now " keepe 
us from hunger three or four days at a time." 

10 



no HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

abundance ; adders of great bigness, whereof our men 
killed some a yard and a half long. On these adders" 
(rattlesnakes, probably) ''the Frenchmen did feed, to no 
little admiration of us, and affirmed the same to be a deli- 
cate meat," A tolerably accurate description of the dif- 
ferent kinds of fish and birds is given, and the writer seems 
to have been particularly struck with the advantages of the 
country for raising cattle. "The houses of the Indians," 
he says, ''are not many together, for in one house an hun- 
dred of them do lodge, they being made much like a great 
barn, and in strength not inferior to ours, for they have 
stanchions and rafters of whole trees, and are covered with 
palmetto leaves, having no place divided but one small 
room for their king and queen. In the midst of this 
house is a hearth, where they make great fires all night, and 
they sleep upon certain pieces of wood, hewn in for the 
bowing of their backs, and another place made high for 
their heads." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

French Expedition of Ribaut to relieve Fort Caroline — Spanish Expe- 
dition of Menendez to expel the Huguenots — Capture of Fort 
Caroline by Menendez, and Massacre of the Garrison. 

1565 

The settlement at Fort Caroline, although neglected by 
France, had not been forgotten by its illustrious patron ; 
but the civil commotions which distracted the country had 
rendered it impossible to forward the succors which were 
so much needed. Reports had reached France from the 
little colony, bearing unfavorably upon Laudonniere, set on 
foot by those who had been in the conspiracy against him. 
Among other things, they had accused him of playing the 
viceroy, of living in great state, and of aggrandizing him- 
self. As soon as the admiral was enabled to devote his 
attention to the subject, an expedition of considerable 
magnitude was set on foot, to be under the command of 
Captain Ribaut, who had been in command in the first 
voyage. A fleet of seven vessels, some of considerable 
size, was provided, and ample provision made for a per- 
manent occupation of the country. Some six hundred and 
fifty persons were embarked, and among the adventurers 
were representatives from many of the first families of 
France. By some means, and, as is charged by many, in 
accordance with direct information from the French court, 
the expedition of Ribaut destined to succor and insure the 
permanent establishment of the French Huguenots in 

(III) 



112 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

America was made known to Philip II. There was at 
the Spanish court at that period, unemployed, a man 
of considerable distinction, Menendez by name, who 
had acquired a high reputation by the success of many 
naval expeditions in which he had been engaged. He 
had shortly before learned that a son who had sailed from 
Mexico on board a treasure-fleet bound for Spain, which 
had been wrecked upon the coast of Florida, was a cap- 
tive among the savage tribes who inhabited its shores. 
This man, soured by some difficulties and annoyances he 
had encountered, sorrowing over a favorite son whose fate 
presented itself to his imagination as worse than death, 
and largely imbued with the spirit of the military propa- 
gation of the faith, was led to seek the command of an 
expedition to Florida. His own principal tliought was 
undoubtedly the recovery of his son, but the leading con- 
sideration he placed before the king was the salvation 
of the souls of the tribes of Florida. The coast of Florida 
had already acquired a bad reputation, on account of 
the numerous shipwrecks which had occurred there, and 
it was thought that a more thorough examination and 
acquaintance with its shores, harbors, currents, and sound- 
ings would enable such disasters to be avoided for the 
future. 

The Spanish crown had long claimed an exclusive right 
to Florida, and under this designation included all of the 
country in North America which had been or might be 
discovered. The existence of the settlement made in 1564 
by the French, on the St. John's River, must have been 
well known to the Spanish court, and would naturally have 
been considered an aggression upon their rights, although 
they had never been able themselves to occupy or take 
possession of any portion of the immense country claimed 
by them. It added not a little, undoubtedly, to their sensi- 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



113 



tiveness relative to this settlement, that it was made by the 
Huguenots of France, who were regarded by the Spaniards 
as the most detestable of the human race and beyond the 
pale of humanity. In view of the misfortunes which had 
attended every expedition to the shores of Florida, it 
seems as though it would have been a hopeless effort to 
procure the means or the men for another enterprise in 
that direction, and so undoubtedly it would have been, 
but for the character of the man who undertook it and 
the religious motives which urged him, and which have 
so often proved that no stronger passion can control 
the human heart than religious zeal, even among those 
who conform to none of the obligations of a religious 
life. 

Although the sad fate of Narvaez's and De Soto's expedi- 
tions must have been fresh in their minds, yet the name of 
Florida had not lost its charm, and the appeal of Menendez 
was responded to by greater numbers than he could provide 
transportation for. The number to be furnished at the ex- 
pense of the crown was to have been five hundred men-at- 
arms, but only two hundred and forty-nine of the force 
were actually provided. Notwithstanding this, a force 
amounting to two thousand six hundred persons were 
embarked on board of thirty-four vessels of various sizes, the 
largest of which was of near one thousand tons, and carried 
over one thousand persons, — a large vessel and a very large 
complement of passengers for that day. Menendez had 
expended in the equipment of the expedition nearly a mil- 
lion of ducats, the crown having provided but a single 
ship, and had embarked in the expedition all of his own 
means and all that he could obtain either by loan or gift 
from his friends. Although he had made the religious 
welfare of the natives of Florida the principal object of his 
mission in his interviews with the king, the number of the 

10* 



114 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

clerical party provided was not commensurate with so ex- 
tensive a work, — twenty-six priests, brothers, and monks 
being the entire number mentioned out of the two thousand 
six hundred and fifty who embarked. The agreement with 
the king had authorized Menendez to take with him five 
hundred slaves, the third part to be men for his own service 
and that of his people, in order that he might build, settle, 
and cultivate Florida with more facility, and plant corn 
and put up sugar- works ; but so great was the anxiety of the 
people to accompany him, it is said, that he found it unneces- 
sary to carry with him the five hundred slaves. 

The expedition of Ribaut, which set sail from Dieppe 
on the 23d of May, 1565, consisted of five hundred men, 
besides some families of artisans who accompanied the ex- 
pedition ; the fleet numbered seven sail, some of which 
must have been of considerable size, as four of the vessels 
were obliged to anchor outside the bar of the river May, 
now known as the St. John's. For nearly a month after 
their getting to sea they were detained on the coasts of 
France by contrary winds, and, when fairly on their course, 
were two months in reaching Florida. Making first one of 
the Bahamas, they came upon the coast of Florida north of 
Cape Canaveral, and probably first landed at Mosquito, 
where they found a Spaniard, who had been wrecked upon 
the coast twenty years before, and who informed them, 
upon the report of the natives, that Laudonniere's colony 
was about fifty leagues northward. Coasting along, they 
sounded the bar of the River of Dolphins, at St. Augustine, 
and, proceeding farther north, entered the river May (St. 
John's) on the 29th of August, 1565. 

The three smaller vessels only were able to enter the 
river, as has been already stated. For several days they 
were employed in landing the stores and provisions in- 
tended for the colony, and disembarking the most of the 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 115 

people, leaving on board the vessels outside the bar but 
little more than their ordinary crew. 

Menendez had pushed forward his preparations with 
the greatest vigor, and was extremely anxious to reach 
Florida before the French should be enabled to fortify and 
intrench themselves. He made all possible dispatch, and, 
leaving a portion of his fleet to follow after him, set sail 
from Cadiz on the ist of July, 1565, with about two-thirds 
of the whole number who were to join in the expedition. A 
severe tempest which they encountered after leaving the 
Canaries wrecked and dispersed a portion of the fleet, so that 
when the general arrived at Porto Rico, on the 9th of Au- 
gust, he had but a third part of his expedition under his 
command. He learned here that a dispatch-vessel, sent with 
orders to him from Spain, had been intercepted by the 
French, and intelligence of his movements probably con- 
veyed to the French colony in Florida. Menendez at 
once decided to pursue his voyage with all expedition, 
without awaiting the coming up of his other vessels ; and, 
refitting as well as he was able, he sailed northward, by an 
untried route, among the Lucayan Islands, and on the 28th 
of August, being the day devoted in the calendar of the 
Roman Church to the memory of St. Augustine, they 
came in sight of Florida and landed on her coast. Upon 
the same day the French fleet, under Ribaut, had cast 
anchor at the mouth of the St. John's River, — the two hos- 
tile fleets being thus within fifty miles of each other, and 
landing simultaneously at two neighboring points, each 
unconscious of the proximity of the other. 

It adds not a little interest to this concurrence of events 
to recall the fact that on the 4th of the same month the 
English fleet, under the celebrated Sir John Hawkins, had 
anchored and landed at the St. John's, thus bringing into 
close proximity the fleets of the then three great maritime 



it6 history of FLORIDA. 

powers; although upon all the great continent lying north 
of the Gulf of Mexico neither of them possessed a single 
foot of ground, except that occupied by the feeble detach- 
ment of the French at Fort Caroline, which was preparing 
to return to France on the very day that Ribaut's fleet ap- 
peared. Another day's detention, and Ribaut probably 
might not have landed to occupy the deserted fort. Me- 
nendez would have found no heretical colony to extirpate, 
and would probably not then have remained, and the first 
chapter of the colonization and permanent settlement 
might have been deferred for a long period. The Spaniards, 
on landing, had learned from the Indians that the French 
were at twenty leagues' distance to the north, and, re-em- 
barking eight leagues beyond, they arrived at the harbor 
of St. Augustine, to which, in honor of the day upon which 
they arrived on the coast, they gave the name which it 
has now borne for nearly three hundred years. Again 
coasting northward, on the 4th of September they de- 
scried the four large vessels of the French anchored at the 
mouth of the St. John's River. 

A council of war was now held by the Spanish captains, 
and the opinions of a majority were in favor of withdraw- 
ing to Hispaniola and preparing a more powerful expedi- 
tion to attack the French in the spring. The Adelantado 
could not, however, brook this timid counsel, and declared 
his intention of making an attack at once. Preparations 
were accordingly made, and about daybreak the Spanish 
vessels began to move up towards the French trans- 
ports. These, distrusting the intentions of the Spaniards, 
hoisted sail and prepared to slip their cables. Confirmed 
in their suspicions by the actions of the Spaniards, the 
officers of Ribaut's fleet put to sea, and the Spaniards, per- 
ceiving this, fired upon them from their heavy guns, at too 
great a distance, however, to effect any injury. Pursuit was 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. ny 

kept up all day, but they were unable to overtake the 
French vessels, and at nightfall they abandoned the pur- 
suit, sailed to the southward, and cast anchor in the 
river Seloy, called by the French the River of Dolphins, 
now known as the port of St. Augustine, whither they were 
followed at a distance by one of the French vessels, in 
order to observe their further movements. There they 
were seen to disembark their forces, victuals, and muni- 
tions, three of their vessels entering the harbor and three 
remaining outside. Having made a reconnoissance, the 
French vessel returned, and reported to Ribaut that the 
Spaniards had landed and commenced fortifying them- 
selves. That zealous officer at once conceived the idea of 
surprising them, and by the capture of their ships so far 
disabling them as to prevent any molestation of his colony 
on their part. Calling a council of his officers, he laid his 
views before them. Laudonniere and his other captains re- 
monstrated against his enterprise, deeming it altogether too 
hazardous and uncertain in its results — Laudonniere, by his 
own account, especially opposing it because of the severe 
gales which prevailed along the coast at that season of the 
year. But to all of these objections Ribaut replied that he 
was instructed not to allow his colony to be encroached 
upon, and that the landing and fortifications commenced 
by the Spaniards indicated that hostile intentions were 
entertained. 

He accordingly, on the 8th of September, re-embarked 
all of his effective force, and with them most of the able- 
bodied men of Laudonniere, to the number of thirty-eight, 
leaving him an invalid force with which to defend Fort 
Caroline. Ribaut did not anticipate an absence of more 
than two days, as the Spaniards were within fifteen leagues 
of him. He was, however, by a fatal mischance, two days 
too early or too late, for, sailing on the loth of September, 



n8 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

on that very day he encountered a terrible tempest, which 
drove him, helpless to resist, far down the coast. In the 
mean time, his rival, Menendez, was influenced by similar 
wishes to act promptly, and discussed with his captains an 
expedition by land to attack the Huguenots in their fort. 
His own force was estimated at six hundred, and he sup- 
posed the French garrison to be about the same number — 
perhaps a little stronger. Having secured guides, Menen- 
dez determined, against the advice of his officers, to under- 
take the expedition. The storm which now raged along 
the coast, accompanied with a deluge of rain, seemed to 
favor his design of surprising the French at a time and by 
a mode of attack which they could hardly anticipate. He 
felt almost confident, however, that the French fleet was at 
sea, and that even if it escaped shipwreck it would be 
hardly possible for it to regain the harbor for several days. 
On the 17th of September, Menendez set out at the head 
of five hundred men, to pursue a most difficult march over 
an almost impassable country, guided by two Indian chiefs 
who were enemies to the French. Their march was much 
impeded by the effects of the heavy rains, which had over- 
flowed the streams and made the marshes almost impassa- 
ble. They were three days in reaching the vicinity of Fort 
Caroline, and during the whole march were exposed to heavy 
rains. Many of the ofiEicers and men wished to return, and 
much dissatisfaction was felt, but the character and energy 
of their leader restrained them from deserting him. 

In the mean time, Laudonniere had done his best to repair 
the injuries to his works which had been made preparatory 
to their abandonment, and endeavored to infuse some 
spirit into and restore some order to his invalid garrison. He 
was himself very ill, and had only sixteen or seventeen well 
men in the fort. Of Ribaut's men, whom he had left be- 
hind, there were some who had never drawn a sword — four 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. up 

being boys who kept Ribaut's dogs; one cook; a car- 
penter, Nicholas Chaleux, who wrote an account of his 
escape ; a beer-brewer ; an old cross-bow maker ; two shoe- 
makers; four or five men who had wives; a player on the 
virginals — in all, about fourscore and five or six, counting 
lackeys and women and children. Two captains of the watch 
were appointed, and a strict guard was kept up for several 
days. But the terrible tempest which prevailed relaxed 
their vigilance, they thinking it absurd to expect an at- 
tack at such a time. The night of the 19th of September 
was very stormy, and at dawn the sentinels were with- 
drawn under shelter, and the officer of the watch himself 
retired to his quarters. 

At break of day the forces of Menendez reached the fort, 
and commenced the attack. A sudden rush, a quick alarm, 
a surprise, a feeble resistance by a bewildered garrison, 
and the fort was taken. Laudonniere, by his own account, 
tried to rally his men, and fought in person, as long as 
there was hope ; but, finding himself recognized and pur- 
sued, he fled to the neighboring forest, and there fell in 
with other fugitives from the fort. With much difficulty 
they made their way through the sedge that lined the 
banks of the river, and, reaching some vessels that lay 
at its mouth, they escaped. In the first assault on the fort, 
many of the garrison were cut down, without regard to age 
or sex; a statement which may well be believed, in view of 
the more deliberate cruelty afterwards practiced. When' 
we recall in how many instances religious rancor has carried 
men into the extremes of cruelty, it will not seem incredi- 
ble that even women and children fell victims to the fero- 
cious soldiery who accompanied Menendez. The Spanish 
account of the massacre admits that an indiscriminate 
slaughter took place until checked by an order from Me- 
nendez that no woman, child, or cripple, under the age of 



I20 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

fifteen, should be injured, — by which it is said that seventy 
pers6ns were saved. "The rest were killed." Some of the 
prisoners were hung upon the neighboring trees, and this 
inscription placed over them, — ''No por Franceses, sino 
porLuteranos." ("Not as Frenchmen, but as Lutherans.") 

Menendez changed the name of the fort to San Mateo, 
in honor of the apostle whose festival occurred on the day 
subsequent to its capture. The Spaniards also changed the 
name of the river May to San Mateo. Menendez repaired 
the fort, and made such arrangements as were necessary 
to fortify the post against an attack should Ribaut return ; 
garrisoning it with three hundred men-at-arms under Gon- 
zalez de Villareal. Before leaving, he had crosses erected 
in prominent situations, and marked out the site of a 
church, to be built of the timber which Laudonniere had 
prepared for building vessels. 

Taking a small number of his men with him, he returned 
to St. Augustine, finding even greater difficulty than before 
in crossing the swamps and creeks. His arrival at St. 
Augustine was signalized by great rejoicings, and a solemn 
mass was celebrated, and a Te Deum sung, in commemo- 
ration of the victory. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Shipwreck and Massacre of Ribaut and his Followers. 
1565. 

Ribaut' s unfortunate vessels, which had encountered the 
gale the night after leaving port, were driven down the 
coast at the mercy of the storm, which increased in vio- 
lence, and, after ineffectual efforts to keep out to sea, they 
were driven ashore between Matanzas and Mosquito Inlet. 
Such is the character of the shelvy beach on the eastern 
coast of Florida that but little danger to life attends a ship- 
wreck there. The low and sandy shore is devoid of rocks, 
and vessels are ofttimes driven high upon the land, and, at 
the fall of the tide, one may pass almost dry-shod from the 
stranded ship. But one person was lost from Ribaut' s ves- 
sels, a Captain La Grange, who had opposed the expedi- 
tion, and only at the last moment consented to share the 
perils of which he was the first victim. Of the occurrence 
of this fatal expedition of Ribaut we have no account from 
his own party, except that given by Le Moyne, as having 
been related to him by a sailor, a native of Dieppe, who 
escaped the massacre, having been left for dead. There 
are two detailed Spanish accounts extant, emanating from 
chaplains attached to Menendez's colony. 

The information of the disaster that had befallen Ribaut's 
vessels was brought to St. Augustine by the Indians, who 
gave Menendez to understand, by signs, that a large num- 
ber of persons were at an inlet, four leagues distant, which 

II ( 121 ) 



1 2 2 HI ST OR Y OF FL OR ID A. 

they were unable to cross. Menendez at once set out with 
a party of his men, and, arriving the same evening at Ma- 
tanzas Inlet, he saw in the morning, on the opposite side of 
the inlet, quite a number of men with standards, one of 
whom swam across to Menendez and told him they were a 
portion of the French forces under Ribaut, whose vessels 
had all been wrecked, twenty leagues distant from each 
other, along the coast below. The first question of Menendez 
was, "Are they Catholics or Lutherans?" The reply was, 
" They are all of the New Sect," a fact known, of course, 
to Menendez; but the question was intended to justify the 
course he intended to pursue towards them. He allowed 
the man to return to his comrades, with a guarantee of 
protection for his captain and four or five of his followers, 
should they choose to cross over. The captain and four 
men came across, and held an interview with Menendez. 
The Spanish chaplain, De Solis, gives a minute account of 
the conversation, and says that the French captain informed 
Menendez that he was the commander of one of the vessels 
which had been wrecked ; that he desired a boat to cross 
this river and one four leagues farther on, at St. Augustine, 
in order to reach the fort, twenty leagues beyond. To this 
Menendez replied at length, informing him of the capture 
of Fort Caroline and the slaughter of the garrison. The 
captain then desired to be furnished with a pilot and vessels 
to carry them to France, as there was no war existing be- 
tween their respective sovereigns, who were friends and 
brothers. Menendez thereupon replied that this was true, 
and as Catholics or friends he would favor them, and feel 
that he was serving both kings in doing so ; but as for those 
of the new sect, he considered them enemies, and would 
wage war upon them with fire and sword, and this he in- 
tended to do to all such as should come into those seas or 
countries where jtie governed as viceroy and captain-gen- 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 123 

eral for his sovereign ; that he had come to plant the Holy 
Evangelist in this land, in order tha,t the savages might 
be enlightened and brought to the knowledge of the Holy 
Catholic Faith of ('hrist our Lord, as declared by the 
Roman Church {^' la Iglesia Romana''), and that if they 
desired to surrender their standards and arms, and yield 
themselves to his mercy, they could do so, ''in order that 
he might do to them what should be directed him by the 
grace of God.'"^' 

This is the precise language attributed to Menendez by 
De Solis; and as in the course of his narrative he refers to 
charges of cruelty made at the time, and as he was writing 
an apology for the acts of his brother-in-law, it is not to be 
doubted that he would give such a statement of the trans- 
actions as would be most favorable to Menendez. The 
language attributed to Menendez by De Solis was certainly 
evasive, and by his allusion to their trusting to his mercy, 
and his intention of following divine guidance, the French 
were naturally deceived, as it seems very evident he in- 
tended they should be, into yielding themselves as prisoners 
into his hands. The French captain returned to his men, 
and reported the result of his conference with the Spanish 
leader. Among Ribaut's men were many of wealth and 
noble birth, who were willing to pay as much as fifty thou- 
sand ducats as a ransom for their lives; and the offer was 
made to Menendez, but he refused, in an evasive manner, 
to accept it. The French finally agreed to surrender their 
standards and all their arms, and cast themselves upon the 
clemency of Menendez. They were brought over ten at a 
time, and when the first party reached the shore, Menen- 
dez said to them, "As I have but a few men, and you are 



* " Para que il haga de ellos lo que Dios le diere de gracia." — Ensayo 
Cronologho, p. 86. 



124 ITT STORY OF FLORTDA. 

numerous, it will be easy for you to revenge yourselves 
upon us for the destruction of your fort and people : it is 
necessary, therefore, that you should march, with your hands 
tied behind you, four leagues from here, to my camp." 

To this the French assented, and they were marched 
behind a clump of trees, where they could not be seen by 
their comrades, and their hands were strongly secured be- 
hind them ; the same course being pursued with each suc- 
ceeding party that came over, to the number, it is said, of 
two hundred and eight persons. Upon being questioned, 
eight of their number declared themselves to be Catholics, 
and were sent in a boat to St. Augustine ; the others were 
ordered to march in that direction by land, probably along 
the beach of Anastasia Island; and orders were given by 
Menendez to the officers in charge of them, that when they 
reached a designated spot in the path, the prisoners should 
be killed.* The order was carried out, and Menendez and 
his men returned to St. Augustine the same night. The 
next day Menendez was informed by the same Indians who 
had brought the first report that a much larger party of 
Christians were at the same place. Menendez supposed 
that this must be Ribaut himself, and, taking one hundred 
and fifty soldiers with him, marched to the spot, where he 
saw, on the opposite bank, a considerable force, with stand- 
ards displayed, who had constructed a raft for the purpose 
of crossing, but found much difficulty in managing it on 
account of the strength of the tide. One of the party had 
been allowed to swim over and obtain a boat, in which 
the sergeant-major crossed. Menendez informed this officer 
that he had destroyed the French fort and all its garrison, 
as well as a portion of those who had been shipwrecked, 
and caused the bodies of those slain on the previous day 

* Barcia, Ensayo Cronologico. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 1 25 

to be pointed out to him. He directed the sergeant-major 
to guarantee Ribaut safe conduct, if he chose to come over 
and confer with him. Ribaut accordingly crossed with 
eight of his officers, held a long conference with the Spanish 
general, and was handsomely entertained by him. Menendez 
repeated to Ribaut the story of the capture of Fort Caro- 
line, and he was allowed to converse with one of the gar- 
rison who accompanied Menendez. He, too, was shown 
the bodies of his cruelly murdered men. 

To Ribaut' s offer of a very large amount for the ransom 
of himself and party, Menendez turned a deaf ear, and 
would give no assurance as to the treatment he would re- 
ceive. Ribaut returned to consult with his officers and 
men, and the next morning they gave themselves up as 
prisoners, to the number of one hundred and fifty, with all 
their arms, standards, etc. Two hundred of his party re- 
fused to surrender, and withdrew during the night. Ribaut 
and his comrades were carried across in parties of ten, as 
upon the former occasion, and the same pretense was urged 
to induce them to have their hands tied behind them. Ribaut 
himself, with the philosophy of a stoic and the firmness of 
a Christian, when he saw the fate that awaited him, began 
to sing the psalm Domme, memento met, and, that finished, 
he said, ''From earth we came, and to the earth we must 
return; that twenty years of life, more or less, did not 
matter, and the Adelantado might do unto them what he 
wished." 

One would suppose that the noble. Christian, and serene 
deportment of Ribaut would have touched the chivalry of 
Menendez' s nature, and that the spectacle of a gentleman, 
his equal in rank, reduced by shipwreck to suffering and 
helplessness, appealing to his generosity for aid and to his 
humanity for life, helpless, powerless, and prostrate, would 
have called forth some spark of sympathy from a heart yet 

II* 



126 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

sore under the loss of a son whom he believed to have 
been cast, like Ribaiit, upon a savage coast, and who 
doubtless, like him, was bound by the chains of his ene- 
mies. But, alas! Menendez's was a nature full of deadly 
hatred, and it was now roused almost to a frenzy towards 
the unfortunate Frenchman. His apologist closes the drama 
with these words : E iitandando el Adelantado los matasen 
(and the Adelantado directed them to be killed). The 
entire number, one hundred and fifty, were massacred at 
the same spot and in the same manner as their comrades 
who had gone before them. 

The account given by the Dieppe sailor of the death of 
Ribaut is somewhat different. He says that, after the 
shipwreck, Ribaut sent a boat to the river May, and upon 
its arrival they discovered the Spanish flag floating over 
Fort Caroline. The messenger immediately returned and 
informed Ribaut, who was overwhelmed with distress at 
the intelligence, and sent a second time, directing his 
messenger to communicate with the Spaniards and find 
out what had become of the French garrison. Meeting 
some Spaniards, they were informed by them that the 
Spanish general, a most humane man, had sent all of the 
French garrison in a large vessel to France, well pro- 
visioned and equipped, and that he would treat Ribaut and 
his followers with like humanity. Upon this intelligence, 
Ribaut himself, distrustful of the Spanish clemency, called 
a council of his officers. Being on the verge of starvation, 
and hopeless of relief from any quarter, a majority were in 
favor of yielding themselves up to Menendez, and an 
envoy, one La Caille, was sent to obtain terms. He was 
taken before the Spanish commander, who pledged his 
faith by the most solemn assurances, by religious invoca- 
tions and sacred oaths in the presence of his followers, and 
promised, without fraud, faithfully, and as a true man, that 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



127 



he would spare the lives of Ribaut and of all his people. La 
Caille returned with these assurances, which some received 
with great joy, while to others they carried but little hope. 
Yet all consented, in their desperation, to surrender, and 
came to the river, which was near the fort. Ribaut and 
Ottigny alone were taken into the fort. Here appearances 
soon indicated the fate that awaited them. Ribaut demanded 
an audience with Menendez, and Ottigny indignantly re- 
quired a pledge of safety. To Ribaut no reply was given, 
and Ottigny received only contemptuous laughter. Ribaut 
again demanded to see Menendez, when a soldier asked him 
if he was not Ribaut, the French commander. He replied, 
''Yes." Then said the soldier, "When you issue orders 
to your men, do you not expect obedience?" "Certainly," 
replied Ribaut. "Thus," said the soldier, "do I desire 
to obey my commander. I have been directed to kill you." 
And thereupon he plunged his dagger to the heart of Ribaut, 
and immediately after Ottigny fell by the same hand. The 
rest were killed outside the fort, three musicians alone 
being spared.* The author of this account, whose name 
is not given by Le Moyne, was left for dead, but his 
wounds were not mortal, and he escaped during the night 
to the Indians, with whom he remained some months, but 
was finally given up to Menendez, who was doubtless not 
aware of his having belonged to Ribaut' s party, and sent 
him to Havana, and thence to Spain ; but on this voyage 
he was released by a French vessel, and so reached France. f 
Other accounts, cotemporaneous with the event, say that 
Ribaut was quartered and his dissevered body placed on 
the four angles of the fort, and that his beard was sent as a 

* De Bry, Brevis Narratio — Secunda Pars, Florida, p. 29. 
f This sailor and another, named Pompierre, mentioned in Ensayo 
Cronologico, p. 135. 



128 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

trophy to Spain — a statement indignantly denied by Spanish 
authorities. 

Besides this account, we find in De Bry a statement 
given in a supplicatory letter addressed to Charles IX., 
offered in the name of the widows, orphans, and rela- 
tives of those who were slaughtered by the Spaniards in 
this expedition."^ This letter states that Menendez gave 
them his faith that if they would surrender they should 
receive no injury, but would be forwarded with vessels 
and provisions to enable them to return to France, but 
that they were tied, and led after the manner of brute 
beasts to the castle, where they were received with taunts 
and jeering mockery by the Spanish soldiers, subjected to 
abuse and insults, and then most cruelly massacred ; that 
Ribaut, after being forced to witness the slaughter of his 
men, vainly appealing to the faith of Menendez, was struck 
down from behind, his body treated with the grossest in- 
dignity, his beard cut off and sent as a trophy to Spain, 
and his head quartered and stuck upon spears in the area 
of the fort. This letter, bearing date 1565, the same year 
in which the destruction of the Huguenot colony occurred, 
shows at least what were the accredited reports received 
in France. But these statements are denied by Spanish 
writers, whose representations of the course of Menendez, 
his pledges to Ribaut, and treatment of his body after he 
had been killed, are so utterly at variance that the his- 
torian has no mems of deciding upon facts, and can only 
state the probabilities of the case, which on this point lean 
in favor of the Spaniards, — divesting Menendez' s conduct 
of none of its enormity, but relieving the tragedy of some 
of the horrors with which the French records surround it. 
The atrocity of the deed struck all Europe with horror, 

* Brevis Narratio, Epis. Supp. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 329 

even in that day; and the shocking story has been per- 
petuated over three hundred years, giving the name of 
Menendez a stain of infamy which time cannot wipe out. 

Of those who accompanied Ribaut, two hundred refused 
to surrender, and, withdrawing to the southward, made 
preparations to construct vessels with which they might 
leave the coast. Some twenty days afterwards a party of 
Indians came in, and informed Menendez that at a distance 
of eight days' journey southward, near Canaveral, the 
French were building a fort and a ship. Menendez, after 
getting part of the garrison from San Mateo, sent vessels 
by sea, and marched himself by land with three hundred 
men, to attack the French, who, on the approach of the 
Spaniards, fled to the woods. A messenger was sent out, 
offering them protection, and telling them that they should 
have the same treatment as Spaniards if they would come 
in. One hundred and fifty surrendered, and, it is said, 
received kind treatment. Twenty others sent word -that 
they would rather be devoured by the Indians than sur- 
render to the Spaniards."^ The fort was destroyed, the 
vessel burnt, and the cannon spiked. A small garrison was 
left at a fort the Spaniards built and called St. Lucia. The 
names of Canaveral and St. Lucia are still found on the 
eastern coast of Florida. 

The Spanish forces returned to St. Augustine accom- 
panied by their French prisoners, who were incorporated 
into the colony. Some of them eventually returned to 
France; others remained, renouncing their faith and ac- 
cepting that of their captors. 

* The subsequent history of these twenty is unknown. Those who 
desire to follow in the path of their probable adventures will find in 
"The Lily and the Totem" an interesting story, of which D'Erlach 
and his companions are the heroes. 



130 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

Let us now return to Laudonniere and the few survivors 
of the massacre at Fort Caroline. 

There were two small vessels remaining to the French, 
at the mouth of the river, and some eighteen or twenty of 
the fugitives, with Laudonniere, were received on board. 
On the 25th of September, these two vessels put out to sea, 
one commanded by Laudonniere, the other by Jean Ribaut, 
the son of the admiral. After a long voyage, and much 
suffering, Laudonniere arrived on the coast of Wales about 
the middle of November. He here left his vessel, and re- 
turned to France, where he was badly received by the 
court, and died in obscurity. The other vessel, under Cap- 
tain Ribaut, had proceeded prosperously some five hundred 
leagues, when they fell in with a Spanish vessel, with which 
they had a severe encounter. The French claim the vic- 
tory, having lost but one man, their cook ; but they were 
unable to secure their prize. Pursuing their voyage, they 
reached Rochelle, where they were most kindly received 
and entertained. 

Thus ended the efforts of the, French to establish a 
colony on the southern coast of America. The Lilies of 
France had been trampled in the dust, and the flag of 
Spain waved over St. Augustine, San Mateo, and San 
Lucia. ^ 

The destruction of the Huguenots excited the utmost 
gratification at the court of Spain; and the conduct of 
Menendez was approved and commended by his Catholic 

* Laudonniere, after his return to France, wrote an account of the 
attempted settlement by the French, under the title of " L'Histoire des 
trois Voyages des Frangois en la Floride," which was published in 
the year 1586, by M. Basanier, to which was added a relation of a 
fourth voyage, by De Gourgues. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



13 



Majesty, the bigoted Philip 11.,* and even drew forth a 
letter of gratitude from the pontiff, Pius V.f 

*"0f the great success that has attended your enterprise we 
have the most entire satisfaction ; and as to the retribution you have 
visited upon the Lutheran pirates who sought to occupy the country, 
and to fortify themselves there in order to disseminate in it their wicked 
creed, and to prosecute there those wrongs and robberies which they 
have done, and were doing, against God's service and my own, we be- 
lieve that you did it with every justification and propriety, and we con- 
sider ourselves to have been well served in your so doing." — Ensayo 
Cronologico, p. 115. 

f Letter of St. Pius V. to Pedro Menendez. 

" To our beloved son and nobleman, Pedro Menendez Aviles, Vice- 
roy in the Province of Florida, in the Indies : Beloved son and noble- 
man, Grace and Benediction of our Lord be with you, Amen. — We 
greatly rejoice that our much-beloved, dear son in Christ, Philip, the 
most Catholic King, had appointed and honored you by the govern- 
ment of Florida, making you Adelantado of the country ; for we had 
received such accounts of your person, and the excellencies of your 
virtues, your worth and dignity were so satisfactorily spoken of, that 
we believed, without doubt, that you would not only fulfill faithfully, 
and with care and diligence, the orders and instructions which had 
been delivered to you by so catholic a king ; but we also fully trusted 
that you would with discretion do all that was requisite, and see car- 
ried forward the extension of our Holy Catholic Faith, and the gaining 
of souls for God. I would that you should well understand that the 
Indians should be governed in good faith and prudently, that those 
who may be weak in the faith, being newly converted, be strength- 
ened and confirmed ; and the idolaters may be converted and receive 
the faith of Christ, that the first may praise God, knowing the benefits 
of his divine mercy, and the others who are yet infidels, by the ex- 
ample and imitation of those who are already freed from blindness, 
may be led to the knowledge of the Faith. But there is no one thing 
that is more important for the conversion of the Indian idolaters, than 
to endeavor by every means that they shall not be scandalized by the 
vices and bad habits of those who pass from our Western shores to 
those parts. This is the key of this holy enterprise, in which are in- 



132 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

The French court seem to have received the news of 
the destruction of their colony and the atrocious massacre 
of their countrymen with perfect indifference. This is 
believed to have arisen from the religious animosities that 
existed at that period, and which destroyed all sympathy 
between those of different faith. The sufferings of the 
Huguenots excited no pity in the hearts of the opposite 
party, to which the court of Charles IX. belonged. This 
must have excited great indignation among the people, and 
particularly among the Huguenots. The narratives of the 
survivors were published, and the widows and orphans of 
the slain sent up a memorial to the king, calling upon him 
for a speedy revenge upon the Spaniards for the acts of 
Menendez ; but his Majesty made no response, and it was 
left to private individuals to resent the indignities to the 
flag and honor of France, and to avenge the wrongs of her 
people. 

eluded all things requisite. Well understand, most noble man, that I 
declare to you that a great opportunity is offered to you in the carry- 
ing out and management of these matters, which shall redound on the 
one hand to the service of God, and on the other to the increase of the 
dignity of your king, esteemed of men, as well as loved and rewarded 
by God. Wherefore, we give you our Paternal and Apostolic Bene- 
diction, We seek and charge you to give entire faith to our brother, 
the Archbishop of Rossini, who in our name will signify our wishes 
in more ample words. 

" Given in Rome, at St. Peter's, with the ring of the Fisherman, the 
1st of August, 1569; the 3d year of our Pontificate." 



CHAPTER X. 

Situation of Matters at St. Augustine, and Explorations made by 
Menendez. 

1566— 1567. 

One purpose of the expedition of Menendez was now 
accomplished. He had destroyed the French colony, and, 
for the present, at least, put an end to the efforts of that 
much-despised sect, the Lutheran, to establish itself in the 
New World. He needed now to strengthen his own posi- 
tion, and guard against any attempts the French might 
make to reoccupy the country which he was so anxious to 
secure to the Spanish crown. Unlike those who had pre- 
ceded him, Menendez had, by accident and good fortune, 
placed his settlement at a peculiarly favorable point. The 
harbor, while affording ample accommodation for vessels 
bringing in supplies for the garrison, was inaccessible to 
those of a larger class, and he was thus effectually protected 
from the attack of any hostile fleet, and, being on a penin- 
sula of moderate size, he could without much difficulty 
guard against attack from the Indians. A still more favor- 
able feature in the location of Menendez' s garrison was its 
great healthiness. Surrounded by salt marshes, free from 
all miasmatic exhalations, the balmy and pure sea-air pre- 
served the colonists almost wholly from those fatal diseases 
which had swept away so many of the first settlers on this 
continent. 

The old towQ of St. Augustine is built upon the precise 
12 (133) 



134 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



point that was occupied by Menendez. Its Indian name 
was Seloy, and the Spaniards found several habitations of 
considerable size which had been built by the natives. 
Satisfied that his position was a good one, Menendez pro- 
ceeded to fortify it. A fort was constructed of logs at 
a point commanding the approaches by sea and by land, 
and made as effective as the limited means at hand would 
permit. Other buildings were erected, and the forms of 
civil as well as military government were instituted in the 
province. Among the buildings erected was, undoubtedly, 
one in which the rites of the Roman Church were celebrated, 
and we may probably say without hesitation that the first 
Roman Catholic church on the Atlantic coast of North 
America was erected at St. Augustine. Menendez did all 
in his power to advance the cause of religion wherever he 
gained a footing in the New World, and never forgot this 
feature in the object of conquest. 

Having done all that he could -for the comfort and 
security of his garrison, Menendez proceeded to strengthen 
Fort Mateo, formerly Fort Caroline, and erected further 
detenses nearer the mouth of the river. In the mean time 
he had caused explorations to be made into the interior, 
but with what result we are not informed. 

The Spaniards were not left very long in undisturbed 
possession of their ground. The most powerful of the 
neighboring chiefs who were hostile to them soon came 
and waged war upon them. The soldiers of Menendez 
could not venture out of camp in any direction without 
being fired upon by their savage foe, and day after day, one 
after another of those who went out fishing or hunting, were 
cut ofi", until more than a hundred men and several officers 
fell victims. The Indians came up to the lines of the fort, 
and on one occasion succeeded in setting fire to a maga- 
zine and a great number of the thatched houses, causing 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



35 



great destruction of property and provisions, and much 
suffering. Menendez finally determined to ask aid from 
the Governor of Cuba, but none was granted him, and he 
was obliged to send a vessel to Campeachy. Up to this 
time he had in vain sought tidings of his lost son, and, 
while waiting the return of the vessel from Campeachy, he 
determined to make search himself on the part of the coast 
where he was reported to have been shipwrecked, and for 
this purpose took a vessel and sailed along the coast of 
South Florida. Landing at Cape Florida, he found there, 
at an Indian settlement, seven Spaniards who had been, 
with many others, wrecked on the coast some twenty years 
before, these alone surviving the cruelty and hardships to 
which all had been subjected. From these Spaniards the 
Indians had obtained the name of Carlos, which we find 
given to one of the tribes of South Florida. Hearing that 
their king, the greatest king in all the world, was called 
Carlos, the Indians adopted the name in their royal family, 
thinking thereby to attain to greater power and honor. 

Releasing his countrymen from captivity, Menendez re- 
ceived them on board his vessel, and returned to St. Augus- 
tine, much depressed at the failure of all his efforts to 
recover his child. New trials and difficulties awaited him. 
Increasing distress at St. Augustine and Fort Mateo had 
created disaffection. Both garrisons mutinied, and de- 
termined to abandon the colony. The officers left in com- 
mand were unable to control the mutineers at St. Augustine, 
who seized one of the vessels and sailed for the West Indies. 
Of the garrison at Fort Mateo, consisting of one hundred 
and fifty persons, all but twenty-one mutinied, and de- 
termined to leave the country. A vessel of seventy tons 
arriving with provisions, they seized upon it, intending to 
sail to the West Indies or Peru. 

Menendez returned after the mutineers had embarked, 



136 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



but had not yet sailed, and tried to arrest their movements 
and induce them to return to the garrison. But the greater 
number were obstinately determined to go, and of one 
hundred and thirty on board the vessel only thirty-five ex- 
pressed their willingness to remain. These the mutineers 
placed on board a bateau, but before they could reach St 
Augustine they were fired upon by the Indians, and most 
of them killed. Those who escaped turned their course, 
hoping to reach Cuba, but were wrecked on Cape Florida, 
and remained among the Indians of Carlos. 

Of the garrison at St. Augustine, over one hundred, at 
the head of whom was Juan de Vicente, forced Menendez 
to allow them to return to Porto Rico. Crowded upon a 
small vessel, they suffered much from heat and sickness, 
and during a long voyage many of them died. 

Relieved of the disaffected portion of his command, 
Menendez restored what order he could ; but his position 
was a most discouraging one, and under a less resolute 
leader the enterprise must have failed. Many of the de- 
serters returned to Spain, and, by their unfavorable reports 
of the country, greatly abated the interest which Menendez 
had excited, and prevented other colonists from joining 
him. The Adelantado now undertook a voyage to the 
north, visiting and making overtures of peace to the chiefs 
along the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, and is sup- 
posed to have sailed as far north as the Chesapeake. The 
points especially mentioned are Quale, Avista, and St. 
Helena. At St. Helena he left a number of his men to erect 
a fort; and also at Avista and all the Indian settlements 
which he visited he insisted upon building forts. Return- 
ing south, Menendez ascended the San Mateo River, 
visiting several Indian tribes on its borders. It seems to 
have been supposed by Menendez that this river commu- 
nicated with the sea at some point in the lower part of the 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



37 



peninsula, and the Indians told him of a lake, called 
Miami, that communicated with the sea and with this river. 
They may have alluded to that extensive savanna now 
known as the Everglades, which is more or less covered 
with water at all times, and in seasons of heavy rains may 
have afforded access by light canoes to the head-waters of 
the St. John's. One of the outlets to the Everglades, near 
Cape Florida, is now known as the Miami River, and we 
find the same name given to two rivers of Ohio, from which 
circumstance we may suppose it probable that the original 
inhabitants of these States, Ohio and Florida, had a com- 
mon origin and language. 

Menendez revisited his posts at St. Helena, Avista, and 
Guale, and took measures for their secure establishment; 
and at these and all other places which he visited he 
caused the cross to be planted, and left religious teachers, 
who were to instruct the natives. He seems to have been 
gratified with the willingness of most of them to receive 
instruction and become Christians. One of the chiefs, 
however, Satourioura, always stood aloof, and showed no 
good feeling for the Spaniards, who, notwithstanding this 
fact, ventured to visit his tribe. On one occasion, seven- 
teen of them going out to the Indian houses, about two 
leagues from Fort Mateo, were fallen upon and eight of 
their number killed, the rest returning to camp covered 
with wounds. The distress for provisions continued, and 
Menendez was compelled to go himself to the West Indies 
to seek relief for his colonists. 

During his absence a fleet of fifteen sail arrived, bringing 
heavy reinforcements, which were greatly needed, for, in 
addition to the loss sustained at Fort Mateo and St. Au- 
gustine by mutiny and desertion, the greater part of the 
garrison left at St. Helena had deserted. Seizing upon a 
transport, they made sail for Cuba, but were cast upon that 

12* 



138 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



fatal coast of North Florida, and there fell in with the 
wrecked mutineers from Fort Mateo, who most gladly 
welcomed this accession to their numbers. 

About this time a vessel arrived off the coast with three 
Jesuit fathers of some distinction, — the first of their order 
who had visited this part of the New World, — all of the 
priests who had come over before being Franciscans. 
Father Martinez, having landed in a small boat, proceeded 
with the crew in search of the fort which was their point of 
destination, but, a sudden squall coming up, the vessel was 
driven out to sea, and the good priest and his boat's crew 
were left on shore defenseless and without provisions. 

Falling in with a party of Indians, they were directed to 
Fort Mateo ; but within half a league of the mouth of the 
river they were attacked by another party of savages, and 
Father Martinez and three of his men were slaughtered on 
the shores of St. George's Island. 

When Menendez returned from Cuba he was much en- 
couraged at finding the reinforcements which had arrived 
during his absence, and he proceeded at once to strengthen 
his garrisons at Fort Mateo and St. Helena. Leaving them 
in good condition, he started on an expedition to South 
Florida, wishing to visit all the tribes who occupied the 
lower part of the peninsula. The most southerly of these 
was that of Tequesta, and next were the tribes of Carlos, 
the most powerful of all the Indian tribes of this peninsula, 
and whose limits extended from one coast to the other. 
Within their domain, probably near Cape Florida, Me- 
nendez built a small fort and left a garrison. In reply to 
inquiries made here relative to Lake Miami and its con- 
nection with the San Mateo River, the Indians directed 
him to the country of the Tocobayo, fifty leagues to the 
north. 

Before leaving Fort Mateo he had given orders that a 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



139 



vessel should be sent up the San Mateo River to search 
for Lake Miami, and to meet him, if possible, on the north 
coast of Florida. Three vessels were accordingly sent; 
but, finding the course of the river very tortuous and its 
borders inhabited by numerous Indians, in whose good 
feeling they felt no confidence, the commanders deter- 
mined to return to the fort. From the country of Carlos 
Menendez came to Tocobayo and obtained permission to 
erect a fort and leave some religious teachers to bring them 
to a knowledge of the true faith. 

From Tocobayo three days' march brought him to Fort 
Mateo, from which we may suppose that the location of 
Tocobayo was about that of Cape Canaveral. The Ade- 
lantado is said to have met at Tocobayo more than fifteen 
hundred Indians, and at a council held there twenty-nine 
caciques were present. 

At Fort Mateo Menendez found Juan Pardo, who had 
been sent out with one hundred and fifty men to explore 
the country to the west and see if there was any commu- 
nication open with New Spain by means of rivers having 
their course in that direction. Pardo penetrated some one 
hundred and fifty leagues to the Apalachian Mountains, 
making friendly overtures to the caciques of the country, 
and building a fort in the territory of one named Coava. 
Leaving a garrison and religious teachers here, Pardo re- 
turned to Felipe. 

Upon the river Mateo several caciques had rule, the 
most powerful of whom was Otima, whose territory was 
on the west bank of the river, near the Ocklawaha. To 
the north was the domain of Macaya, and to the south 
that of Ays. Satourioura, the bitter enemy of the Span- 
iards, occupied the country between St. Augustine and the 
San Mateo River, east and north, and so cut off all com- 
munication between the Spanish forts by land. The hos- 



140 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

tility of this chief could not be appeased, and his prox- 
imity to the two most important posts was peculiarly 
annoying to Menendez, who determined to attack Satouri- 
oura with all the available force he could command. Four 
detachments of seventy men each, one of them under the 
command of Menendez himself, marched out, hoping to 
surprise the Indian chief; but the wily savage was on the 
alert, and, after a fruitless effort, the Spaniards returned to 
their posts. 

It seemed highly important, at this stage of affairs, that 
Menendez should visit Spain. He was aware that injuri- 
ous reports had been circulated against him at home, and 
many complaints and accusations made before the Spanish 
court, all of which he believed it his duty to refute in 
person before his sovereign. 

Within the eighteen months that had elapsed since his 
landing in Florida, Menendez had carefully examined the 
entire coast from Cape Florida to St. Helena, had built 
forts at St. Augustine, San Mateo, Avista, Guale, and St. 
Helena, and had established block-houses at Tequesta, 
Carlos, Tocobayo, and Coava, in all of which he had left 
garrisons and religious teachers. In most of this work 
Menendez had been personally engaged, while he was re- 
sponsible for all ; and mind and body now required change 
and relaxation. 

Believing that the interest of the colony, as well as his 
own, would be advanced by his going to Spain, Menendez 
caused a small vessel of twenty tons to be built, and in the 
spring of 1567 he set sail in his frail bark, accompanied 
by thirty-eight persons, including the crew. Fair weather 
and favorable winds brought them rapidly on their way, 
and in seventeen days they reached the Azores, making, it 
WHS said, seventy-two leagues a day, — a statement hardly to 
be believed. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



141 



They arrived safely in Spain, and Menendez was received 
with great favor at court. But empty honors were not 
what the Adelantado wanted. He required prompt and 
substantial aid to enable him to carry on his enterprise; 
and this he found not easily to be obtained. He was kept 
in anxious suspense at court, chafing under unnecessary 
delay and the obstacles thrown in his way, all the while 
fearful that the French might avail themselves of his ab- 
sence and make an attack upon his colony in retaliation 
for the massacres at Matanzas and Fort Caroline. Indeed, 
rumors of such designs had already reached him. Those who 
escaped those terrible massacres and returned home had 
scattered widely through France the bloody story of their 
countrymen's sufferings at the hands of the Spanish leader, 
and the indignation of the people grew stronger day by 
day as they witnessed the indifference of the French court. 
It was said that they intended to take the matter into their 
own hands, and that an avenger was about to appear. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Recapture of Fort Caroline, and the Notnble Revenge of Dominic de 
Gour<iues. 



1567. 



The name of Dominic de Gourgues occupies a place 
secondary in interest to none, perhaps, in the history of 
Florida. Associated as he is with one of the most remark- 
able and dramatic incidents on record, we find a more 
than usual attraction in the character and circumstances of 
his early life. 

This self-constituted champion of his country's wrongs 
and of the rights of humanity was a native of Marsan, in 
Guienne.* In those day^all persons of gentle birth adopted 
the profession of arms, and Dominic entered the service of 
his king as a private soldier, deeming it honor enough to 
be allowed, even in this humble position, to serve France. 
Winning promotion on the field, he obtained the rank of 
captain, a place at that time of greater distinction than 
now. He was charged with the defense of a place near 
Sienna, with only thirty soldiers at his command, and, 
being attacked by a largely superior force, made a despe- 
rate resistance, but all his followers were slain, and he fell 
into the hands of the Spaniards. 

To show their appreciation of his signal bravery, and, as 
the French chronicler with bitter sarcasm remarks, with 

•5^ " He was a brother of the Governor of Guienne." — Efisayo Cro- 
nologico, p. 133. 
(142) 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



U3 



rare Spanish generosity, De Gourgues, instead of being put 
to death, was condemned to the galleys. The vessel upon 
which he was placed as a galley-slave was captured by the 
Turks, and he was carried to Rhodes and Constantinople, 
and had the good fortune afterwards to be recaptured, 
and, by the French commander at Malta, restored to his 
country. He did not remain long unemployed, but em- 
barked with an expedition to Brazil and the South Seas, 
where he probably acquired a considerable fortune. 

From this voyage Dominic returned in time to sympa- 
thize in the grief and indignation excited throughout France 
by the massacre of the Huguenots at Fort Caroline, and the 
fate of Ribaut and his shipwrecked companions. The treat- 
ment De Gourgues had received at the hands of the Span- 
iards, and the fetters of his galley-life, had left scars on 
his soul which nothing could efface, and it may well be 
supposed that this new tale of horrors stirred to its depths 
all the concentrated hatred of his nature. The spirit of 
retaliation was fully aroused, and he felt that the blood of 
his countrymen, no less than his own wrongs, cried for 
vengeance. 

It has been seen that the destruction of the Huguenots 
in Florida was treated by the king and court of France 
with an indifference that greatly embittered the people, 
many of whom had religious sympathies with the sufferers, 
while others doubtless lost friends and relatives in the 
bloody massacre. Of the faith of De Gourgues we know 
nothing,* and are only told of his sympathy with his ill- 
treated countrymen, and his determination to resent their 
wrongs. He seems to have deemed it unwise or unsafe to 
make his feelings public by asking aid of the king, and it 

* The Spanish account says he was a terrible heretic — Herege ter- 
rible. — Ens ay Cron., p. 133. 



144 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



is not improbable that had he done so he would have met 
with strong opposition at court, and that his plans would 
have been communicated to the Spaniards. He more pru- 
dently concealed his intentions, and began his preparations 
professedly with the design of making a trip to the coast of 
Africa to procure slaves. Fortunately, the king's lieutenant 
in Guienne, Monsieur Montluc, was a friend of De Gour- 
gues, and readily granted the necessary license for a voyage 
to Africa. * 

Dominic did not underrate the difficulties that lay before 
him. He had reason to believe that the Spaniards in 
Florida were strongly fortified, and that their conscious- 
ness of guilt, while probably making cowards of them all, 
would yet point out the necessity of being always on the 
alert and prepared for an attack from those they had so 
cruelly wronged. He felt the justice of his own cause, and 
trusted to this, and to his utter fearlessness of danger, rather 
than to the strength of any force he might possibly be able 
to command. His own resources were not large, for it 
was said of him "that in all his life he had sought to 
attain honor rather than wealth," and the sale of his 
estate did not bring him means sufficient to enable him to 
equip an expedition. He was compelled therefore, how- 
ever reluctantly, to borrow money from his friends. With 
the assistance thus obtained, he was able to procure and fit 
out three vessels, — one of them quite small, and intended 
to be used only as a tender, with either sails or oars. 
De Gourgues then enlisted one hundred men (many of 
whom are said to have been gentlemen) and eighty-four 
mariners, who were expected in any emergency to take up 
arms as soldiers. By the 2d of August, 1567, he had all 
things in readiness to put to sea, but, being detained twenty 
days by a long and very severe gale, he could not com- 
mence his voyage until the 22d of the same month. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



145 



He at first proceeded to the coast of Africa, where he 
encountered another violent gale, and was attacked by- 
three African chiefs, whom he repulsed. Turning west- 
ward, he made land at Dominica, and then touched at St. 
Domingo, where he repaired his vessels, but was not 
allowed to procure supplies or even to take in water. 

It was not until after leaving St. Domingo, and on the 
point of sailing for Florida, that De Gourgues made known 
to his men his real place of destination and the object of 
his expedition. 

He then addressed them most eloquently, depicting the 
wrongs their countrymen had received at the hands of the 
Spaniards, the indignity their nation and flag had suf- 
fered, and the shame that rested upon France for leaving 
so long unavenged an act so wicked and base as the murder 
of the Huguenots and the destruction of the French colony. 
He told them that the work that lay before them was to 
punish the Spaniards, and wipe out the stain that rested 
upon their own country, and explained, as fully as he could, 
his plans, and the means by which he hoped to attain suc- 
cess, expressing entire confidence in his men, and hoping, 
as he said, they would not disappoint the high expecta- 
tions he had formed when he selected them from the many 
who had been eager to join in this expedition. 

His words fell upon willing ears, and the hearts of his 
followers burned with anxiety to reach the shore and begin 
their work of revenge. A favorable wind soon brought 
them to the coast of Florida, and, passing near the mouth 
of the San Mateo River, they were descried from the forts 
at its entrance. The garrison, supposing they were Span- 
ish vessels, fired a salute, which De Gourgues returned, in 
order to keep up the deception. A few leagues north of 
the San Mateo they entered the fine harbor of Fernandina, 
near the mouth of the St. Mary's River, called by the 



146 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

natives Tacatacouron, and, by the French, La Seine. At 
daybreak, the morning after their arrival, they beheld the 
shores of the harbor lined with savages in hostile array, 
ready to prevent their landing, for the Indians supposed 
them to be Spaniards. Fortunately, the trumpeter on board 
De Gourgues's vessel was well acquainted with the Indian 
language, having been out with Laudonniere, and he was 
sent on shore to give assurances of friendship, and to en- 
gage their services. The trumpeter was soon recognized by 
the Indians, and received with demonstrations of joy. 
Satourioura, the bitter foe of the Spaniards, was present, 
and welcomed De Gourgues as the friend of Laudonniere. 
The complaints of the Indians against the Spaniards were 
very bitter, and they expressed an impatient desire for re- 
venge. Having explained, as far as was prudent, his plans 
to the Indians, De Gourgues started out on a reconnoi- 
tring expedition to the mouth of the San Mateo, in order to 
make himself thoroughly acquainted with the position of 
the Spanish forts and the strength of their garrisons; then, 
returning to his vessel, he awaited the assembling of the In- 
dians, who, under their chiefs Olocatora and Satourioura, 
were to join him in the assault. They had promised to 
return in three days and bring their warriors with them, 
and, true to their word, they came in on the third day 
with thousands of dusky followers. 

Satourioura brought with him a youth of sixteen or 
seventeen, by the name of Peter de Bre, who had escaped 
from Fort Caroline, and had been all this time with the 
Indians. The Spaniards had made many efforts to get pos- 
session of De Bre, but the Indians faithfully protected him 
and now allowed him to join De Gourgues. He proved 
most useful as an interpreter, and informed De Gourgues of 
the strength of the three forts on the river, which he said 
contained in all but four hundred men-at-arms. The French 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 147 

were rejoiced to find themselves supported by the Indians, 
and De Gourgues skillfully availed himself of their enmity 
towards the Spaniards, to further his own purposes. The 
attack was to be made upon the fort on the north side of the 
river; and, guided by Helicopali, one of the chiefs, the 
French arrived in the neighborhood of the fort just at dawn, 
but were obliged to wait until the ebb tide should enable 
them to reach the island on which it stood. At mid-day 
they passed over, and, the sentinel not being at his post, the 
French troops had nearly reached the fort before they were 
discovered. The Spaniards, though for three years they had 
been dreading this attack, were at last taken by surprise, and 
the cry which now reached their ears — "The French! the 
French!" — struck terror to every heart. The sentinel flew 
to his post and fired a culverin twice at the enemy, and was 
on the point of firing a third time when Olocatora leaped 
on the platform and transfixed him with a pike. Ignorant 
from what direction the French had come upon them, and 
probably only expecting an attack to be made by sea, the 
garrison rushed to the gates, hoping to escape, but were 
met by De Gourgues's men, and their entire number, sixty 
in all, either killed or captured. The inmates of the fort 
on the opposite side of the river, observing the contest, 
opened fire upon the French, who, being now in possession 
of the first fort, turned the captured guns upon their assail- 
ants, and returned their fire with good effect. In the mean 
time De Gourgues's vessels had come around to the mouth 
of the river and commenced an attack by sea, while the 
Indians, in large numbers, swam across the stream to the 
fort. The Spaniards, finding themselves thus surrounded, 
gave up all for lost, and endeavored to escape, hoping to 
reach Fort Mateo by passing through the woods along the 
shores of the river. But De Gourgues, suspecting their 
purpose, intercepted their flight, and, with the aid of the 



148 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

Indians, succeeded in killing or capturing their entire num- 
ber. Among the fifteen taken prisoners was an old sergeant, 
who gave much important information respecting the posi- 
tion, height, and strength of Fort Mateo, towards which 
point De Gourgues was next to turn his attention. He pru- 
dently determined, however, first to fortify himself in one of 
the forts already captured, and thus guard against surprise 
from any attack the Spaniards might make upon him. He 
also busied himself with preparations for an assault upon 
Fort Mateo, making scaling-ladders, etc., and sending 
out reconnoitring parties to observe the operations of the 
Spaniards. One of these parties, headed by the youilg 
chief Olocatora, seized a Spaniard disguised as an Indian, 
and brought him in to De Gourgues. The Spaniard pro- 
fessed to have escaped from one of the captured forts, and 
said that he had disguised himself in order, as he hoped, 
to escape being killed by the Indians; but, being con- 
fronted with the old sergeant, he was found to be a spy 
from Fort Mateo, sent out to discover the strength of the 
enemy and obtain any other useful information he could. 
He said that the Spaniards supposed the French to be over 
two thousand strong, while their own garrison consisted of 
only two hundred and sixty men, and that they felt wholly 
unable to defend themselves against such vastly superior 
numbers. De Gourgues at once determined to hasten an 
attack upon the Spaniards, and so avail himself of an ad- 
vantage which their overestimate of his strength would 
give him. Coming out under cover of night, he dis- 
posed his Indian forces in ambuscade around the fort to 
await the moment when their services would be required ; 
and at day-dawn he approached wkh his own men, and 
was soon discovered and fired upon from a battery that 
had been so constructed as to cover the approach to the 
fort by water. De Gourgues fell back a little, and, turning 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. ' 149 

aside, secured a position in which he was protected from 
the fort, while he could himself observe all the movements 
of the Spaniards. He soon discovered a party of some 
sixty armed men issue from the fort on a reconnoissance. 
As soon as they had advanced far enough from the fort to 
admit of it, De Gourgues threw some of his men in their 
rear, in order to intercept their return, and then, rushing 
out of his concealment, attacked the Spaniards in their 
front. They quickly fled before him, and, falling in with 
the French in their rear, were cut to pieces. 

The garrison, becoming panic-stricken, attempted no 
resistance, and sought safety in flight ; but, being sur- 
rounded on all sides by the French and their Indian 
allies, only a few, including the commander of the fort, 
escaped. 

Most of them fell under the swords of the Frenchmen or 
the clubs of the Indians, while the few who were taken 
alive were reserved for a more awful doom. 

There were found in the fort five double culverins, four 
mignons or moyennes, and other smaller pieces of iron 
and brass, besides corselets, arquebuses, pikes, etc., and 
eighteen large cakes of powder. The artillery De Gour- 
gues had placed upon his vessels, but before he could 
secure anything more an accident occurred which de- 
stroyed everything. An Indian, broiling fish near the fort, 
set fire to a train leading to the magazine and store- 
houses, by which they were entirely destroyed. 

The Spaniards who were taken prisoners were soon led 
out to the spot on which, in September, 1565, Menendez 
had caused the Huguenots of Fort Caroline to be hung. 
De Gourgues here arraigned them at the assizes of retribu- 
tive justice. He told them of the wrongs they had done to 
the French king, how they had murdered his unprotected 

13* 



I^o HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

subjects, destroying the forts they had built, and taking pos- 
session of the country they had conquered. Such base 
treason and detestable cruelty could not go always unpun- 
ished, and he had taken upon himself, at his own risk and 
expense, to avenge the wrongs of his countrymen. He 
could not make them suffer as they justly ought, but must 
mete out to them such punishment as an enemy might 
fairly inflict, in order that their fate might be a warning 
unto others. 

Having thus spoken, he caused the poor wretches to be 
suspended from the branches of the spreading oaks under 
whose shade the unfortunate Huguenots had suffered ; and 
then, in place of the inscription which Menendez had 
written in Spanish over his bloody deed — ''I do this, not 
as unto Frenchmen, but as to Lutherans" — De Gourgues 
caused to be engraved, on a tablet of pine, with a red-hot 
iron, ''I do this, not as unto Spaniards, nor as to outcasts, 
but as to traitors, thieves, and murderers." 

He now called together the Indian chiefs and their war- 
riors, and told them that he had fulfilled his promises to 
them, and with their aid successfully carried out his pur- 
poses of retaliation upon the Spaniards, that their wrongs 
had been avenged, and that it only remained, to make 
their work complete, that the forts should be destroyed. 
This the Indians gladly undertook to accomplish, and so 
great was their zeal that by nightfall, it is said, not one 
stone remained upon another at Fort Mateo. They were 
anxious that De Gourgues should attack the fort at St. Au- 
gustine, but he felt that his means were altogether inade- 
quate to such an enterprise. Moving down the river to the 
forts at its mouth, the thirty prisoners who had been cap- 
tured and secured there were brought out and hung, and 
the forts totally destroyed. Among these last Spaniards 
who were put to death was one who confessed that he had 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



151 



taken part in the massacre at Fort Caroline, and had with 
his own hands hung five of the Huguenots. Acknowledg- 
ing his guilt, he reproached himself greatly, and recognized 
the hand of God in the just punishment he was about to 
suffer. 

De Gourgues now prepared to return to his vessels, which 
lay at the mouth of the river Tacatacouron ; and as he 
marched along he found the paths everywhere filled with 
Indians, who had come to do him honor and offer him 
presents. Having reached his vessels and found them 
ready for sea, he assembled the Indians, and, addressing 
their chiefs, thanked them in his own behalf, and in the 
name of his countrymen, for their service, and exhorted 
them to continue the friendship which they had ever shown 
for the King of France and his subjects, who hoped ever 
to maintain peaceful relations with the Indians, and would 
protect them from the Spaniards and all other enemies. 
He warned them to be on their guard against surprise 
until his Majesty could send a sufficient force to protect 
them. The Indians parted from the French with tears and 
lamentations, and could be pacified only by a promise from 
De Gourgues to return to them within a twelvemonth with 
a larger force than he now had. 

After weighing anchor, De Gourgues assembled his ship's 
company and called upon them to return thanks to God 
for the great success He had vouchsafed to their enter- 
prise. "It was not," said he, "other than God who pre- 
served us from shipwreck at the Cape Finisterre, and from 
our enemies at the Isle of Cuba, and at the river Hali- 
camini, where He moulded the hearts of the savages to 
join with us. 'Twas God who blinded the understanding 
of the Spaniards, so that they were unable to discover 
the number of our forces or to know how to employ 
their own. They were four to our one in numbers, — had 



1^2 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

strong fortresses, well provided with artillery, ammunition, 
arms, and provisions. We had the just cause, and con- 
quered those who contended without the right. Thus it 
was God alone, and not ourselves, who won the victory. 
Let us then always give thanks to Him, and pray Him 
ever to continue his favors to us, and now beg Him to 
guide and protect us on our homeward journey, and ask 
Him so to dispose the hearts of men that the dangers in 
which we have been placed and the labors we have under- 
gone, shall find grace and favor before our sovereign, — 
and, before all, France, — for that we have sought nothing 
else than the service of our king and the honor of our 
country." 

On Tuesday, the 3d day of May, 1568, they set sail for 
France with favorable winds, and on the 6th of June ar- 
rived at Rochelle, having lost on the passage the ''tender" 
with eight men ; a few had been killed at the assault on the 
forts. 

De Gourgues was received with great honor and applause 
at Rochelle, but, the report of his exploits having reached 
Spain, a fleet was dispatched to capture him, which arrived 
at Rochelle the very day he had sailed for Bordeaux, and 
he was pursued as far as Blays. De Gourgues presented 
himself at court, gave an account of his doings in Florida, 
and tendered his services to the king to regain the posses- 
sion of that country ; but the anti-Huguenot party was then 
in power, and the temper of the court was not favorable 
to such an exploit, and, though there were doubtless many 
who rejoiced that the slaughter of Ribaut had been avenged, 
De Gourgues met with a cold reception, and was compelled 
to seek safety in concealment. Philip of Spain, the same 
king who had shortly before bestowed commendation and 
honor upon Menendez for his bloody acts in Florida, now 



JHSTOR V OF FL OR IDA. 



153 



had the unblushing assurance to demand of the French 
king the head of De Gourgues. The President of Parlia- 
ment, De Marigny, and the Receiver, Vacquieux, shielded 
De Gourgues from the demands of Philip, and, after some 
years spent in obscurity, he was appointed by the king to 
the command of the French fleet, and died suddenly in 
the year 1582, greatly regretted.* 

One can hardly fail to be struck with surprise at the suc- 
cess of this remarkable expedition. From the day of the 
destruction of Fort Caroline, Menendez had lived in hourly 
fear of the return of the French to avenge the slaughter of 
the Huguenots. Every passing sail, and every reverbera- 
tion, had caused the Spaniards to grasp their arms and 
hasten to their ramparts to meet the expected foe. The 
fort, under its new name of San Mateo, had been rebuilt, 
and strengthened in such a manner that the Chaplain Men- 
doza records the boast, "that half of France could not 
take it;" The Spaniards further strengthened their posi- 
tion, by erecting two forts near the mouth of the San Mateo 
River, and mounted guns of considerable calibre to com- 
mand the passage of the river. Forts had been built at 
several points on the coast, every effort made to conciliate 
the Indians, and, in fact, Menendez had done all in his 
power to prepare his colony against any sudden surprise or 
attack. 

Such was the condition of affairs when De Gourgues 
planned and executed his scheme of vengeance. Looking 
at the limited means and small force he had at his com- 
mand, his enterprise seems the extreme of recklessness. 
With only two small vessels and a tender, a force of one 

* We have followed the account given in Ternaux Compans, taken 
from a manuscript in the Royal Library of France, — " Reprise de la 
Floride." 



154 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

hundred armed men and sixty sailors, without artillery, he 
was to attack a foe outnumbering his own four to one, oc- 
cupying three forts which were mounted with heavy guns 
and provided with abundance of military stores, ammuni- 
tion, etc. 

On his arrival in Florida, De Gourgues had been met by 
a few Indian chiefs who were hostile to the Spaniards, and 
who were eager, with their followers, to join his expedi- 
tion ; but their only weapons were their bows and arrows, 
and no great dependence could be placed upon such allies. 
The success of his plan could be looked for only through 
one of those chances or accidents of war that sometimes 
reward confidence and audacity. The boldness of the 
assailants certainly deceived the Spaniards, who could not 
believe that any inferior force would assault them in their 
strongholds, and with a natural dread of the French they 
preferred to seek safety in flight, rather than stand their 
ground and risk the fate which would inevitably follow their 
defeat. Had the commander of Fort Mateo sustained the 
attack, De Gourgues must inevitably have been driven off, 
and compelled to abandon his purpose, or but imperfectly 
accomplish it in the capture of the smaller forts. Well 
might he be thankful for the success, and attribute it to the 
intervention of a higher power. We cannot, in this age 
of a more enlightened and refined Christianity, approve all 
the acts of De Gourgues. We feel that it would have been 
more noble to have spared his captives, and given an illus- 
trious example of magnanimity to his enemies ; but at that 
day such an instance of generosity would have been con- 
sidered egregious folly. De Gourgues had himself, in re- 
ward for deeds of valor, been consigned by the Spaniards to 
the galleys, and was embittered alike by the remembrance 
of this personal grievance, and by the cruelty practiced 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



155 



upon his countrymen, the memorials of which perhaps still 
remained to animate his purpose of revenge. Thus incited, 
he believed that he was the minister of divine vengeance 
to execute justice upon "traitors, thieves, and murderers ^ 
The atrocities of Menendez, and the vengeance of De 
Gourgues, are alike sad records of the cruelty and vindic- 
tiveness of the human race. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Return of Menendez — Attack on St. Augustine by Sir Francis Drake 
— Missions to the Indians, and Massacre of the Mission Fathers — 
Attack on St. Augustine by Captain Davis — Establishment of a 
Spanish Settlement at Pensacola. 

1568 — 1696. 

While De Gourgues was thus visiting with swift destruc- 
tion the Si^anish forts and garrisons on the St. John's River, 
Menendez still tarried in restless impatience at the Spanish 
court. He finally succeeded in obtaining a partial reim- 
bursement of the funds he had expended, and procured 
from the Duke of Borja ten missionaries to accompany him 
on his return to Florida, who were to engage in the propa- 
gation of the faith among the Indians. Menendez had also 
been honored by being appointed Governor of Cuba, an 
appointment then considered of less importance than the 
command of Florida. He set sail on the 17th of March, 
1568, and arrived in Florida shortly after the departure of 
De Gourgues, of whose attack he only learned upon his 
arrival there. His proud spirit must have chafed with un- 
availing rage at the severe blow which had been dealt 
upon his colony by so insignificant a force, but he had 
come too late to prevent or revenge it. 

Menendez found his garrison demoralized, suffering from 
hunger and insufficiency of clothing. The Indians, aroused 
by the inroad of De Gourgues, were everywhere in open 
hostility, and he found ample occupation in restoring 

(156) 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. . 157 

order, and re-establishing his posts along the coast. He 
gave particular attention to the missionary operations 
among the Indians, and, to his credit be it said, devoted 
himself with zeal and earnestness to this good work. The 
success of the missionaries was not equal to their labors, 
for it is said that although the Indians asked many ques- 
tions, and gave apparent attention to the explanations and 
instructions of the worthy fathers while the corn which was 
daily given to them lasted, yet when that was gone they 
also disappeared ; and notwithstanding four of the fathers 
labored in one locality most assiduously for a year, they 
succeeded in baptizing only seven persons within that 
period, of whom four were children and the others at the 
point of death. 

These missions were soon extended through a large 
region; beginning at Cape Florida, they reached along 
the coast to St. Helena on the coast of Georgia, and an 
attempt was made, even at this early period, to plant a 
mission on the shores of the Chesapeake, then called the 
province of Axiocan. 

Menendez had brought back with him an Indian who had 
been carried to Spain some time previously and educated 
in the Roman Catholic faith. This convert now proposed 
to guide a band of missionaries to his native province, of 
which his brother was the cacique or chief. An expedi- 
tion having been fitted out^ a party of missionaries, con- 
sisting of Father Segura, vice-provincial, with five other 
priests, and four junior brothers of the order of St. 
Francis, under the guidance of Don Luis, sailed to the 
Chesapeake, where they landed ; and the treacherous con- 
vert, pretending to conduct them into the country, caused 
the massacre of the whole party, one of the junior brothers 
alone escaping, who was afterwards surrendered to Me- 
nendez. 

14 



1^8 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. < 

Having learned of this bloody massacre of the mission- 
aries, Menendez in the following year sailed to Axiocan. 
captured some of the Indians who had participated in 
it, and executed eight of them. Others of the mission 
were desirous to renew the attempt for the conversion of 
these Indians; but Menendez, in consideration of the dis- 
tance from his settlements and the duplicity shown in the 
treatment of Segura and his companions, would not give 
his consent to their going. Had this company of mis- 
sionaries succeeded in establishing themselves on the shores 
of the Chesapeake, it is not improbable that Virginia would 
have become one of the most important of the Spanish set- 
tlements in America. 

The importance of Florida soon diminished in public 
estimation. None of the rich rewards which had been 
anticipated had followed its occupation, and 'it was only 
by the constant importation of provisions that the inhabit- 
ants could be sustained. The colony languished, and was 
supported only by the personal exertions of Menendez, 
to whom it was a profitless position, impoverishing him 
daily. Finally, leaving the government in the hands of his 
relative, the Marquis de Menendez, he returned to Spain, 
where his high reputation gave him position at court as one 
of the counselors of his Majesty, and it is said that no im- 
portant enterprise was undertaken without his advice. 

In the year 1574 he was appointed captain-general of 
the Spanish fleet, and at the mature age of fifty-five, at the 
summit of his honors, and surrounded with devoted fol- 
lowers, attracted by his brilliant reputation, when on the 
eve of assuming the command of a grand armada of over 
three hundred vessels, he was attacked by a violent fever, 
to which he succumbed after a short illness. It was said by 
some that he put an end to his own existence. 

Menendez combined with many admirable and heroic 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 759 

qualities others which have left a stain upon his name and 
memory. He was distinguished for the perseverance and 
energy of his movements, the fortitude with which he bore 
hardships and sufferings in the prosecution of his enter- 
prise, and the possession of many of the virtues which con- 
stitute a great leader, and which, on a larger field, would 
have made him illustrious. Unfortunately, he was a cruel 
bigot, and was placed in a position calculated to develop 
the worst traits of his character. His portrait bears some 
resemblance to that of Henry VIH. of England — the 
forehead and upper portion of the face noble and full of 
intelligence, while the wide mouth and heavy chin be- 
speak the cruelty and selfishness of character which alike 
belonged to them. Under a leader of less resolution, the 
settlement of Florida would have been abandoned ; and he 
is justly entitled to the credit of establishing the first per- 
manent colony in the United States. 

The settlement of the country progressed but slowly, 
consisting mainly of garrisons established at a few points. 
In 1586 Sir Francis Drake, returning from a freebooting 
expedition against the Spanish settlements in the West 
Indies, observed a lookout upon the shores of Anastasia 
Island, near the entrance to the harbor of St. Augustine. 
The English landed with a piece of ordnance, and, planting 
it at the nearest point, fired two shots, the first of w^hich 
passed through the royal standard of Spain waving over 
the fort, and the second struck the ramparts. As it was 
nearly dark, the English suspended any further demonstra- 
tions until the following day. During the evening, several 
officers, making a reconnoissance in a boat, were fired at 
three or four times from the fort, which was at the same 
time being evacuated by the Spanish garrison to the number 
of one hundred and fifty, they supposing that the whole 
English force was about to attack them. 



i6o HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

In the mean time the boat had returned to the English 
camp, when a French fifer, playing the Prince of Orange's 
March, approached in a canoe. He reported himself as 
one of the garrison, informed them of the flight of the 
Spaniards, and offered to act as a guide to the English 
forces.* The boats were immediately manned, and, upon 
approaching the fort, two shots were fired from it by some 
of the garrison who had remained ; but, upon landing, the 
English found the place entirely deserted, the garrison 
having left in such haste that the treasure-chest, containing 
two thousand pounds sterling, destined for the pay of the 
troops, fell into the hands of Sir Francis. The fort then 
existing was constructed of the trunks of pine-trees, set 
upright as a palisade, but was without ditches; the plat- 
forms were of trees laid horizontally and filled in with 
earth; but the works were in an unfinished state, and not 
capable of defense against a superior force. Owing to 
heavy rains and some intervening creeks, it is said, the 
English were not able to approach the town by land. Upon 
their arriving at the town, after a slight show of resistance, 
the garrison and inhabitants fled, the former going to San 
Mateo. The English sergeant-major, pursuing the fugi- 
tives, was shot from an ambush, in retaliation for which the 
English pillaged and then burnt the town. Understanding 
that there was another Spanish settlement at St. Helena on 
the coast, and also that of San Mateo, Sir Francis deter- 
mined to attack these points, but was unable, on account of 
the tempestuous weather, to make a landing. 

St. Augustine, at the time of its destruction by Drake, 
boasted of a hall of justice, a parish church, and a mon- 
astery. 

* This French fifer bore the name of Nicolas de Bourgoyne, and 
was one of the musicians said to have been spared at the time of 
Ribaut's massacre. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. l6l 

The combined garrisons of St. Augustine and San Mateo 
then numbered but four hundred men, and the only other 
post of any importance was St. Helena. With the de- 
parture of Menendez, the importance of the province had 
sensibly diminished, and, as no discoveries of the precious 
metals had been made, it was difficult to procure colonists 
to engage in mere agricultural pursuits. 

After the departure of Drake, the Spanish governor re- 
turned to St. Augustine and commenced to rebuild the 
town. In the year 1593, twelve brothers of the order of 
St. Francis were sent to Florida to continue the missions 
among the natives, and were distributed at different points 
along the coast, the principal mission being on the island 
of Guale. 

Five years afterwards the son of the chief of Guale, dis- 
satisfied with the restrictions and reproaches of the priests, 
incited a general conspiracy for the destruction of the mis- 
sionaries. 

In the suburbs of St. Augustine were two Indian villages, 
called respectively Tolomato and Topiqui. At midnight, 
the young chief and his followers made an attack upon 
Father Corpa, who had charge of the mission of Tolomato, 
and dispatched him with their hatchets. Then, being 
urged by their chief to complete their cruel work, the band 
hastened to Topiqui, where they entered the habitation of 
Father Rodriguez, who begged the privilege of celebrating 
mass before he died. He had no sooner concluded tlian 
they fell upon him with the utmost fury, killing him at the 
very foot of the altar, and from thence dragging his life- 
less body, they cast it into the fields. They then went to the 
Indian town of Assopo, on the island of Guale, where were 
two friars, Fathers Auiion and Badazoz, whom they quickly 
dispatched, their bodies being afterwards buried by their 
friends at the foot of a high cross, which Father Auiion 

14* 



1 62 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

had himself erected. From Guale, the infuriated savages 
went to the Indian town of Asao, where a friar resided by 
the name of Velascola, a man of great humility and piety, 
but endowed with remarkable strength, and of whom the na- 
tives stood in great awe. Becoming aware of their hostile 
intentions, he embarked for St. Augustine in a canoe. En- 
raged at his escape, the Indians hastened to intercept him, 
if possible, at the point of his landing near St. Augustine. 
Reaching this place in advance of him, they concealed 
themselves in the thickets, and, stealing upon him, seized 
him from behind and struck him repeated blows with their 
clubs and hatchets until they had deprived him of life. 

Their thirst for blood still unslaked, they proceeded to 
Ospo, where Father Davila was stationed, who, hearing 
their yells and being made aware of his danger, sought 
safety by flight to the woods. But the night being clear, 
and the moon at the full, they soon discovered him and 
wounded him with their arrows. As he was seized and was 
about being sacrificed, he was saved by the intercession of 
an Indian woman, who claimed him as a captive and car- 
ried him to the interior, where he was forced to perform 
the lowest menial service, accompanied with much ill usage 
and severe treatment. Tired of their captive, they at last 
determined to complete their measure of vengeance against 
the missionaries by burning him alive. He was brought 
out for this purpose, and bound with thongs to an upright 
post in the ca^npiLs of the town ; the fuel was heaped about 
him, and the torch about to be applied, when an Indian 
mother, whose son was held prisoner by the Spaniards at 
St. Augustine, begged that the priest might be delivered 
to her that she might procure the exchange of her son for 
him. With great difficulty she at last succeeded in having 
the father released from his great peril, and delivered to 
his friends in exchange for the Indian youth. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 163 

The savages had now visited all the missions except that 
of the island of San Pedro. With upwards of forty canoes 
they made a vigorous assault upon that mission, but were 
repulsed by the friendly cacique, whose tribe was at enmity 
with that of the assailants, and who followed up his success 
with such vigor that all who had already landed were de- 
stroyed, and the remainder forced to seek safety in flight. 

In this massacre of the missionaries perished five priests, 
and another, Davila, was so maltreated that when he re- 
turned to his friends they were unable to recognize him. 

The Spanish governor proceeded immediately to visit 
the murderers with exemplary punishment, — burning the 
dwellings and granaries of those whom he could not more 
directly reach. 

In the course of the years 161 2 and 161 3, thirty-one 
missionaries of the order of St. Francis were sent to Flo- 
rida, which was now erected into a religious province of 
that order, by the name of St. Helena ; the principal house 
of which was established at Havana, and Juan Capelles 
chosen the first provincial.* 

A catechism in the Indian language had already been 
prepared and printed, being probably the first work ever 
published in the Indian language. f 

Three years later, twelve brothers of the order were 
added to the mission of St. Francis, and such progress 
was made in the ensuing two years that there were now 
twenty missions established in the principal Indian towns 

* Ensayo Cronologico, p. l8i. 

f Mr. Buckingham Smith, former Secretary of Legation to Spain, to 
whose indefatigable labors Florida owes so much, in his reseaixhes 
abroad, discovered a copy of this Indian catechism, called " La Doc- 
trina Cristiana," in the Timuqua language — a tribe occupying the 
larger part of the coast below St. Augustine, the name of which is 
still preserved in the Tomoka River. 



164 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



through the country, and many of the friars preached to the 
natives with great success. 

In the year 1638 a war broke out between the Spanish 
colonists and the Apalachee Indians, and although the 
garrison was very weak, not being able to furnish over one 
hundred effective men, the governor succeeded in repelling 
the assaults of the Indians and driving them back to their 
own province. A considerable number of Indians of this 
tribe, who had been captured, were set to work on the for- 
tifications of St. Augustine, and they and their descendants 
were kept thus employed for sixty years. 

St. Augustine remained the principal town of the Span- 
iards, and so slow was the progress of settlement that, al- 
though the recipient of government patronage and aid, in 
1647 it is stated, with some degree of exultation, that the 
number of families or householders had reached three hun- 
dred, and that there were then domiciled in the city, at 
the convent of St. Francis, fifty members of that order. 

The succession of the house of Menendez to the govern- 
orship of Florida had now terminated, — Hernando de Alas 
being the last of that family. Pedro Menendez, the nephew 
of the governor, had perished at the hands of the Indians, 
and De Alas had married his daughter Carolina. . Diego 
de Rebellado was captain-general from 1655 to 1675, when 
Don Juan Hita de Salacar succeeded him, and held the 
government until 1680. He was succeeded by Don Juan 
Marquez Cabrera. 

The settlement of Virginia had been commenced in 
1607, and the other colonies to the north had been planted 
by the English and Dutch without opposition on the part 
of the Spanish crown. The wide separation of the Spanish 
and English settlements, for a time prevented difficulties 
between them, and the spirit of Menendez no longer ani- 
mated his successors. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 165 

It was not until 1663, when the charter of Carolina was 
granted by Charles II., that the English settlements trenched 
on the ground which the Spaniards had at any time claimed 
by possession. With the settlement of Carolina there at 
once grew up a hostile state of feeling, which lasted for a 
century, between these neighboring colonies. At this 
period the buccaneers or free rovers filled the seas, to the 
destruction of the Spanish commerce, and to the great dis- 
turbance of the Spanish settlements. 

In 1665, one of these piratical expeditions, under the 
command of Captain John Davis, made a descent upon St. 
Augustine, with some seven small vessels, and pillaged the 
town.* The garrison, consisting of two hundred men, do 
not appear to have resisted the attack, which, it is probable, 
was made from the south by boats. The fort is said to have 
been an octagon, with two round towers. f 

The ill feeling existing between Florida and Carolina 
continued to increase ; the Spaniards alleging that the 
pirates who preyed upon their commerce were received and 
sheltered in the harbors of Carolina, an accusation which 
was but too true. The Carolinians, on the other hand, 
complained that the Spanish authorities endeavored to 
incite the Indians to acts of hostility against them, and 
also seduced their servants from them and gave them pro- 
tection at St. Augustine. 

The Spaniards sent a force to attacki^some of the colo- 
nists on the Ashley River in the year 16/6, but, the settlers 
having thrown up intrenchments for their protection, the 
Spaniards retreated. Two years later, an expedition, con- 
sisting of three galleys, from St. Augustine, made an attack 

* Buccaniers of America, 53, London, 1684. 

f This description of the fort is evidently erroneous; it was then un- 
finished, but was square, with bastions. 



1 66 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

upon a Scotch settlement on Port Royal Island, which 
had been established by Lord Cardross. The settlers were 
too few ni number to protect themselves, and their houses 
were pillaged. From thence the galleys ascended the 
North Edisto River to Bear's Bluff, where they made a 
landing, burnt the houses, and plundered the settlers. This 
expedition inflicted severe injury upon the colony, then in 
its infancy, and was characterized by all the atrocities 
of savage warfare. The property of the settlers was carried 
off, and their persons maltreated by the infliction of every 
indignity ; one gentleman, of the name of Morton^ abrother 
of the governor of the colony, was allowed to perish by 
the burning of the galley upon which he was confined. 
The utmost indignation was excited throughout the colony 
by these acts. 

It was a part of the original contract with Menendez 
that he should carry into Florida five hundred negro slaves 
from the coast of Africa, but he does not appear to have 
complied with it, having introduced but a small number. 
One hundred years later, we find the privilege of introducing 
slaves accorded to one De Aila as a reward for meritorious 
services, and his arrival, in 1687, with negroes, seems to 
have occasioned much rejoicing in the colony. 

Renewed efforts were made at this period to extend mis- 
sions among the natives, and large numbers of priests and 
friars were sent across from Cuba to labor in Florida. 
The natives of South Florida had begun to have consider- 
able commercial intercourse with Havana, carrying across 
skins, fish, and fruit in exchange for merchandise suited to 
their wants. 

Don Juan Marquez Cabrera, the governor, about 1681 
attempted to remove the various Indian tribes of Apala- 
chees, Cowetas, and Casicas, as well as those of San Felipe, 
San Simon, San Catalina Sapala, and others, to the islands 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 167 

on the coast, and along the St. John's. This occasioned 
an insurrection of all these tribes, and several of them re- 
moved within the limits of Carolina, and subsequently 
made a sudden incursion into Florida, attacked the towns 
of the Timuquas, robbed the church and convent of St. 
Francis of the vestments and plate, burnt the town of To- 
muqua, killed a large number of the Christian Indians, and 
carried many others away as prisoners to St. Helena, where 
they were made slaves of.* 

At this comparatively late period in the history of 
America, by the energy and perseverance of Monsieur de 
la Salle, the course of the Mississippi was traced from the 
regions of the Illinois to the points of its discharge into 
the Gulf of Mexico. Although one hundred and seventeen 
years had passed since the actual settlement and occupation 
of Florida by the Spaniards, the spirit of enterprise and 
discovery had so far died out, that the information they 
had already derived from the expeditions of Narvaez, De 
Soto, and De Luna, apprising them of vast and fertile re- 
gions and magnificent rivers, had not stimulated them to 
undertake further explorations and occupation of the rich 
regions lying within the limits -claimed by them as a part of 
Florida. 

It was left to the insignificant expedition of La Salle — 
embarked in slight canoes and almost unarmed — to trace 
the mighty floods of the great rivers of the west to the sea, 
and thus to confer on France, by the claim of discovery, 
the right of appropriating the fairest portion of the Amer- 
ican continent, the great valley of the Mississippi, to 
which they applied the name of Louisiana. 

Spain, indifferent to other motives, was always accessi- 
ble to the impulse of jealousy ; and the successful voyage 



Ensayo Cronologico, p. 287. 



1 68 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

of La Salle aroused her to the necessity of presenting her 
claims to the extensive regions about to pass under the sway 
of France. Hitherto she had been content to occupy the 
single fortified post at St. Augustine, and to make some 
feeble attempts at colonization. In 1692, however, an ex- 
pedition was fitted out by the Viceroy of New Spain to 
explore the harbors on the western coast of Florida, and es- 
pecially that of Santa Maria de Galva (which De Luna had 
occupied in 1561). In the year 1696, a Spanish colony 
was planted, called Pengacola, — a name derived from the 
locality having been formerly that of the town of a tribe 
of Indians called Pengacolas, which had been entirely ex- 
terminated in conflicts with neighboring tribes. 

A fort of quadrilateral form, a church, and other public 
buildings were erected. To the fort the name of Charles 
was attached, in honor of Charles II. of Spain. Andres de 
Arriola was the first governor of the province ; Don Lauseano 
de Torres was at that time governor of East Florida. 

Two years later, DTberville arrived on the coast with 
three vessels sent out by Louis XIV. to establish a colony 
in Louisiana. He touched at Pensacola, then occupied by 
three hundred Spaniards. Sailing thence to the west, he 
entered Mobile Bay, and landed on an island, called by 
him Massacre Island, and subsequently known as Dauphin 
Island, where he established a colony. 

The Spaniards, at this period, called the Mississippi the 
River of Palisades, from the number of tall trees standing 
singly along its shores. The English called it Mes-sa-che- 
be. While France and Spain were thus planting their col- 
onies in the western portion of Florida, England was con- 
templating a similar enterprise, and three vessels were sent 
by King William to take possession of the country border- 
ing on the Mississippi. But they were too late; DTber- 
ville had already occupied the country. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



69 



The interior of Florida was occupied by the Apalachians 
beyond the Suwanee. The tribes of Calos or Carlos were 
in the southern portion, and the Timuquans along the coast 
north and south of St. Augustine.* Many of these Indian 
names are still attached to various localities in Florida. 
There does not seem to have been much progress made in 
the civilization of the Indians during the Spanish rule; 
the natural ferocity of these savage tribes, their freedom 
from restraint, and their warlike propensities, made them 
impenetrable to the claims of a faith which inculcated love 
and forbearance towards one another. 

Over one hundred years had now elapsed since Menen- 
dez had planted the standard of Spain on the coast of 
Florida, and a vast amount of labor and treasure had been 
expended in the almost fruitless effort to occupy and chris- 
tianize the country. At the beginning of the seventeenth 
century no European colony existed on the Atlantic coast 
of North America, except St. Augustme. In 1607, and 
forty-two years after the founding of St. Augustine, the 
settlement of Virginia, by the English, began at James- 
town, and thirteen years later the Plymouth colony landed 
in New England. In the course of the next fifty years set- 
tlements were made on the whole coast by the French, 
English, Dutch, and Swedes ; and from the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence to Port Royal harbor in Carolina, flourishing 
settlements had arisen and a very considerable commerce 
had grown up under the fostering care of their respective 
governments. 

During the seventeenth century, Spain possessed, by 

* These were apparently tlie dialects, the Timuquan being the 
language used at San Mateo, San Pedro, Asila, Machua, etc., as 
shown in the memorials in the Timuquan and Apalachian languages 
found by Buckingham Smith, Esq., in the Spanish archives at 
Madrid. 

15 



lyo HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

right of discovery and conquest, the claim to the most val- 
uable portion of the American continent, but the history 
of this hundred years of Spanish domination is barren and 
fruitless. It is a record of feeble and spasmodic efforts at 
colonization, with a timid exploration of the regions ad- 
joining the military posts. 

Pensacola and St. Mark's had been established as isolated 
posts, and a few others. The history of Florida, during 
this period, presents but little more than a chronicle of the 
changes of governors, and petty details of local events. 
Having the fertile valley of the Mississippi, the rich plains 
of Texas, and the productive uplands of Alabama, Missis- 
sippi, and Tennessee within their reach, no exploration 
had been made, no colonies planted, no empire founded, 
and in this magnificent and then vacant domain the results 
of over one hundred years of Spanish domination were, 
three small fortified towns, and a few mission-houses. It 
is indeed quite probable that in the year 1 700 they actually 
knew less of the country than did Menendez within ten 
years of his settlement. The mines of Mexico and the 
riches of the Spanish Main had drawn the attention of the 
Spanish monarchy from the more enduring wealth and 
power to be derived from a fertile and populous agricultural 
region, and the colony in Florida was allowed to languish, 
presenting but little more than a bare existence. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Governor Moore's Attack on St. Augustine — Invasion of Moore, with the 
Creek Indians, of the Indian Missions and Spanish Posts in Middle 
Florida — Erection of a Fort at St. Mark's — Capture of Pensacola by 
the French — Recapture of Pensacola by the Spaniards — Recapture 
of Pensacola by the French — Transfer of Pensacola to Spain. 

1696 — 1722. 

From the time of the settlement of Carolina, constant 
sources of irritation and difficulty sprang up between the 
English and Spanish settlements, arising from their mutual 
jealousies. The aid of the Indian tribes was sought by 
both parties, and friendship towards one was regarded as 
necessarily involving hostility towards the other. The 
Spaniards, it will be recollected, had, in the year 1686, 
invaded the English settlements at Port Royal, inflicted 
great injury upon the settlers, and aroused great indignation 
throughout the colony. Prudential reasons had prevented 
the colonists from then resenting the attack by an invasion 
of Florida, but the purpose to do so was only deferred, not 
abandoned. More amicable relations had, however, sprung 
up subsequently between the colonies under the judicious 
administration of Governor Archdale. Unfortunately for 
the peace of the country, Governor Archdale was succeeded 
in the government of Carolina by Governor Moore, an am- 
bitious man, who had secured his appointment by question- 

(171) 



172 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

able means, and who was desirous of acquiring reputation 
by some signal enterprise. 

By the influence of Governor Moore, the Assembly of 
South Carolina were induced to authorize an expedition 
against St. Augustine, which they had been informed was 
not in a very defensible condition, and might readily be 
reduced. Many of the settlers in the province of Carolina 
had lost servants, who had fled to Florida and been har- 
bored and protected by the Spanish authorities, and many 
others of the inhabitants, doubtless, were quite willing to 
procure labor by making an inroad upon the Spanish In- 
dians and reducing them to a state of servitude.* 

A rupture had occurred between England and Spain, and 
Governor Moore, with the motive, as is charged by his 
enemies, of enriching himself, embraced the opportunity 
thus afforded of setting on foot an expedition against the 
Spaniards of Florida. Many of the inhabitants, with the 
recollection of former injuries sustained from the invasion 
of the Spaniards, seconded his plans, while others supported 
the proposal from mercenary motives. 

The governor assured the people that the conquest of 
Florida would be an easy undertaking, and that the capture 
of considerable treasures of gold and silver would reward 
the enterprise. Some, however, opposed the project, and 
directed attention to the known strength of the castle at 
St. Augustine, the great expense certain to be incurred, 
and the fruitless nature of the enterprise. As is usual in 
such cases, the bold outnumbered the prudent, and the 
Provincial Assembly sanctioned the expedition, and voted 
two thousand pounds for the purpose, a sum which, although 



* The failure of the expedition caused so much controversy between 
the friends and enemies of Governor Moore that it is not easy to find 
an impartial account of it by contemporaneous writers. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



173 



it seems insignificant compared with the cost of modern 
contests, was no inconsiderable amount to be raised by a 
poor colony of some five or six thousand people burdened 
with the expenses of a new government. 

The force deemed sufficient to carry out this enterprise 
was placed at six hundred provincial militia, to be assisted 
by an equal number of friendly Indians. They were di- 
rected to rendezvous at Port Royal, in September, 1702. 
The plan of operations contemplated a march by land of 
one division, and an expedition by sea of the other, in 
order to effect a combined naval and land attack upon St. 
Augustine. The land forces were to proceed in boats by 
the inland passage to the St. John's River, and to ascend 
that river to the neighborhood of Picolata, whence they 
were to march across and invest the town in the rear. 
Colonel Daniel was assigned to the command of this por- 
tion of the expedition, the governor himself taking command 
of the naval force. 

In the mean time the Spaniards, learning of the pro- 
posed attack, had availed themselves of all the means of 
defense in their power ; provisions were stored in the 
castle, and preparations were made to sustain a long siege. 
The governor, Don Joseph Cuniga, had moreover succeeded 
in procuring some reinforcements. 

The forces under command of Colonel Daniel, notwith- 
standing their circuitous route, reached St. Augustine in 
advance of the naval part of the expedition, and imme- 
diately attacked and gained possession of die town ; the 
troops and inhabitants retiring to the protection of the 
castle. Governor Moore, with the vessels, soon after 
arrived, and invested the fortifications, but, on account of 
the want of siege-guns of larger calibre, no impression could 
be made upon the walls of the fort. Colonel Daniel was 
sent to Jamaica to procure heavier guns. While absent on 

15* 



174 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



this mission, two Spanish vessels appeared off the harbor. 
Alarmed by this circumstance, and fearing that his retreat 
might be cut off, Governor Moore hastily raised the siege, 
abandoning or destroying such of his stores and munitions 
as he was unable to remove. Before withdrawing, he com- 
mitted the barbarity of burning the town. He was obliged 
to sacrifice his transports, fearing to encounter the Spanish 
vessels if he went to sea. Colonel Daniel returned shortly 
after, having succeeded in obtaining some mortars and 
heavy guns, and, being ignorant of the withdrawal of 
Governor Moore, narrowly escaped capture. Governor 
Moore carried the forces back to Carolina without the loss 
of a man.* 

The expedition cost the colony of South Carolina some 
six thousand pounds, and led to the issue of the first paper 
money ever circulated in America. 

In the same year the Spaniards had incited the Apala- 
chian Indians to make an attack upon the English settle- 
ments in Carolina. The Apalachees had assembled a force 
of nine hundred warriors, and had commenced their march, 
when they were encountered by five hundred Creek Indians 
who were allies of the English and were organized by the 
Creek traders to repel the attack. The Creeks suspended 
their blankets in their camp, as though quietly reposing by 
their camp-fires, and placed themselves in ambush. The 
Apalachees, confident of an easy victory, 'rushed forward 
upon the supposed sleeping camp with great impetuosity, 
when they fell into the ambush prepared for them by the 
Creeks, and were routed with great loss.f 

Although unsuccessful in this attack on St. Augustine, 

^ Carroll's Hist. Col. S. C, vol. ii. ; Fairbanks's Hist. St Augustine, 

131- 

f MS. Report of Com. S. C. Assembly. St. Papers. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



175 



Moore appears to have been a man of much energy, and 
had influence enough to organize another expedition in the 
latter part of the following year, to attack the Indian towns 
under the Spanish protection, which were scattered mainly 
through the region between the Suwanee and Apalachicola 
Rivers, in what is now known as Middle Florida. 

After being in the castle for three months, the inhabit- 
ants of St. Augustine were enabled, upon the retreat of 
Moore, to leave the close quarters in which they had been 
confined, but it was to find their homes destroyed and 
themselves without shelter until they could rebuild. 

Aid to some extent w^as sent from Spain to help them 
to rebuild, but the prosperity of the unfortunate city must 
have received a great blow. Urgent representations were 
made by Governor Cuniga to the home government of the 
necessity for an increased force and larger means to 
strengthen the colony against its English neighbors. He 
pointed out the propriety of placing small garrisons at 
Apalachee,* eighty leagues distant from St. Augustine, at 
Timuqua,f thirty leagues south, and at Guale,J eighteen 
leagues north from St. Augustine. He also proposed to 
build a strong fort at the town of Ys,§ and on the coast 
below Cape Canaveral. || 

The Indians of Apalachee, who for sixty years had been 
laboring upon the fortifications of St. Augustine, as a pun- 
ishment for their revolt in 1640, were now, at the solicita- 
tion of their chiefs, released under a promise to renew 
their labors when it should become necessary. 

Governor Moore, with a small force of militia, some 
fifty in number, and about one thousand Creek Indians, 
attacked the Spanish Indian towns with great impetuosity. 

* St. Mark's. f New Smyrna, % Amelia Island. 

\ Indian River. || Ensayo Cronologico, p. 322. 



176 HISTORY OF FLORIDA, 

Entering the province from the direction of the Flint 
River, he first attacked a town containing fifty warriors, 
which he reduced after a stout resistance. On the follow- 
ing day, the commander of the principal town. Fort San 
Luis, with a force of twenty- three Spaniards and four hun- 
dred Indians, encountered the English and Creek forces. 
Don Juan Mexia, the Spanish commander, was killed in the 
battle, with eight of the Spanish soldiers. The Apalachian 
Indians lost two hundred of their number. This battle 
decided the fate of all the Indian towns. The King of 
Atimiaca, who occupied a strong fort with a garrison of 
one hundred and thirty men, terrified by the defeat and 
death of Mexia, and by the terrible slaughter of the Indians 
on that occasion, offered his submission. Moore then vis- 
ited all of the other Indian towns, without experiencing 
further resistance. Five of the towns were fortified, 
and it is probable th:it had Mexia met the English and 
Creeks behind his intrenchments he might have repelled 
their attack and rallied sufficient force to drive them 
from the province. Moore is said to have destroyed en- 
tirely two of the Indian towns, and to have carried away 
most of the people of seven others, to be held as slaves, 
leaving only one town undisturbed, which either by its 
strength or wealth was able to make terms with him. 

The towns of San Luis* and Ayavallaf were burnt, with 
their churches and forts. All of the towns were plundered 
and robbed of everything of value, including the church 
plate and the sacred vestments ; and desolation and ruin 
marked the track of the invaders. 

There is much discrepancy in the accounts of the strength 
of the Spanish forces. A note attached to a manuscript map 

* San Luis was two miles west of Tallahassee. 
-}- Ayavalla was near the St. Mark's River, 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



177 



found in the English State Paper Office says, '' On the 15th 
of January, 1703, was a battle fought between the Caroli- 
nians, commanded by Colonel Moore, and the Spaniards, 
commanded by Don Juan Mexia, wherein eight hundred 
Spaniards were killed, whereupon the whole country sub- 
mitted, being destroyed. Fourteen hundred Apalachee 
Indians removed to the savana towns, under English gov- 
ernment."* 

There seems to be also some discrepancy in the dates, 
some accounts giving the year 1703 and some 1704. Wil- 
liams's account says that Mexia had a garrison of four hun- 
dred men ; if it is meant that he had a Spanish garrison of 
four hundred men, it is certainly an error, as there were at 
that time not more than forty or fifty Spanish soldiers in 
that part of the country, and it is not likely Mexia had 
more than half of these. 

The Indian missions in that part of the country were 
thoroughly broken up, and, it would seem, without excuse 
or provocation. The remains of these mission stations 
may be traced at several localities in Florida, and tradition 
has assigned to them far greater antiquity than they are 
really entitled to. A fort and chapel were erected together, 
and were surrounded with earthworks and ditches, with 
palisades sufficient to withstand an attack from Indians, the 
only enemies they were likely to require protection from. 
The outlines of these earthworks may be very distinctly 
traced at Lake City and elsewhere. 

It is a sad reflection that the humble chapels, where the 
worthy fathers were accustomed to assemble congrega- 
tions of the dusky sons of the forest to be instructed in 

* I am indebted to Professor Rivers, of Columbia, S. C, for a copy 
of the manuscript map procured by him from the State Paper Office in 
England It appears to be one of the original manuscript maps from 
which the map of Florida in Molls' Atlas was compiled. — {Author.) 



1 78 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

the knowledge of the true God, and the altars erected to 
his worship, should have been ruthlessly swept away by the 
arms of a nation professing itself to be Christian, and by a 
leader who claimed to be animated by peculiar zeal for the 
Christian faith, and that from the poor natives of Florida 
should be thus taken the light of eternal truth, glim- 
mering feebly though it may have been, and that the altars 
thus thrown down were never more, so far as we know, 
restored. 

We have a striking evidence of the manner in which in- 
terest sways the conviction of right and wrong, when we 
read that "the governor received the thanks of the pro- 
prietors for his patriotism and courage, who acknowledged 
that the success of his arms had gained their province a 
reputation;'"*" and the historian seems to utter a bitter sar- 
casm on the patriotism attributed by the proprietors to 
Governor Moore, when he adds, '' but, what was of greater 
consequence to him, he wiped off the ignominy of the St. 
Augustine expedition, and procured a number of Indian 
slaves, whom he employed to cultivate his fields or sold for 
his own profit and advantage. "f 

The war between Great Britain, France, and Spain still 
continued to be carried on in Europe, and in the year 1 706 
an expedition was projected by the French and Spanish to 
make a descent upon Carolina. Monsieur Le Febvre com- 
manded a French frigate and four sloops, with which he 
touched at St. Augustine to take on board a Spanish land- 
force to co-operate in an attack upon Charleston. The 
Spanish troops having been taken on board, the fleet pro- 

"^ Hewitt, in Carroll's Hist. Col. S. C, p. 140. 

f The Atimacian and Apalachian Indians, before Governor Moore's 
attack, had made some progress in civilization, and received instruction 
from the Roman Catholic missionaries, being very loyal to the Spanish 
government. Hewitt, in Carroll's Hist. Col., 203; Ibid,, p. 140. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



179 



ceeded to the coast of Carolina, where, by mistake, the 
frigate entered Sewee Bay, the other four entering Charles- 
ton harbor. By the exercise of great prudence and some 
stratagem, the governor of Carolina was enabled to repel 
the attack with but slight loss, and eventually captured the 
frigate with a large number of the allies. The defeat of 
the French-Spanish expedition was complete, and the at- 
tempt at molestation of the colony was not repeated. 

In 1708, Colonel Barnwell, of South Carolina, made an 
excursion to the Apalachian province of Florida, by way 
of the Flint River.* After visiting San Luis, and the re- 
gion occupied by the mission towns, he passed on to the 
Alachua country and the St. John's River. It was perhaps 
at this period that Captain T. Nairn, of South Carolina, 
with a party of Yemassee Indians, penetrated to the head- 
waters of the St. John's, and the vicinity of Lake Okecho- 
bee, and and returned with a number of captives or slaves, 
as noted on a map of Molls' Atlas of 1719. 

The year 1714 was signalized by a general outbreak of 
the Indian tribes in Carolina. This was charged to the in- 
stigation of the Spaniards, who, it is said, sent emissaries 
from Florida to stir up the Indian tribes bordering upon 
the English settlements to attempt their extermination ; 
and, as evidence of the complicity of the Spaniards, it is 
said that the Indians, before conmiencing hostilities, re- 
moved their women and children to Florida, and placed 
them near to, and under the protection of, the Spanish 
garrisons. The Indians made a combined and powerful 
attack upon the English settlements, but were defeated and 
driven out of the province, retreating south to the Spanish 



■^ On the MS. map before referred to, there is a note saying that 
the Apalachian region of Florida was destroyed hy Carolinians in 
1706. 



l8o HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

possessions, and were welcomed at St. Augustine " with 
bells ringing and guns firing, as if they had returned vic- 
toriously from the field."* Above four hundred of the 
people of South Carolina lost their lives by this Indian 
outbreak before the Indians were overcome. 

In the mean time, considerable progress had been made 
in establishing French settlements on the shores of the 
Gulf of Mexico. Injudicious locations had been made at 
the outset for these settlements, which had to be afterwards 
abandoned and better positions sought, and the usual diffi- 
culties and obstacles attending new settlements had re- 
tarded the rapid progress of French colonization ; but, by 
the perseverance of those intrusted with the charge of the 
colonists, and the fostering care of the parent country, 
which supplied all their wants, even to the furnishing of 
their wives, the colonists succeeded in establishing them- 
selves permanently, and were soon in a prosperous condi- 
tion. The settlements at Mobile and Pensacola were in 
too close proximity to avoid jealousies and collisions, each 
charging the other with encroachments upon their terri- 
tory. 

For a long period all the Spanish plate fleets which were 
sent from Mexico to Spain pursued the route known as the 
Bahama channel, passing near the shores of Florida. In 
1 715, one of these fleets, consisting of fourteen vessels 
laden with a very large amount of gold and silver, was 
wrecked on Carysfort reef, and an immense amount of 
treasure was lost. Much of this was afterwards recovered by 
the wreckers employed for that purpose, but the knowledge 
of this recovery coming to the English at Jamaica they 
sent an expedition to the point where the wreckers were 
engaged, and robbed them of the amount saved, which was 

. . ■ e — 

* Hewitt, Hist. Col. S. C, vol. i. p. 199. 



'history of FLORIDA. l8i 

upwards of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The 
captors no doubt received great credit for this profitable 
exploit. 

The Yemassees, who had been driven out of Carolina 
into Florida, maintained a constant and harassing warfare 
upon the settlements in Carolina, committing great havoc 
among the scattered families along the frontiers. The . re- 
lation of the horrors of Indian warfare has ever drawn 
forth the sympathies of mankind. With a strange incon- 
sistency, the most harrowing scenes of suffering occurring 
under our daily observation pass almost unnoticed, while the 
captivity and sufferings endured by some sturdy frontiers- 
man or his family call forth all our sympathy and compas- 
sion. In every New England household the story of the 
sufferings of the Williams family, of the Dustans, and of 
Miss McCrea, excited the most tender emotions of pity. 
The history of the Southern colonies presents hundreds of 
such instances. It seems to be well established that the 
Spanish authorities in Florida instigated and protected 
these savage allies. A historian of Carolina relates that 
at this period a scalping-party of Yemassees from Florida 
penetrated as far as the Euhati lands, where, having sur- 
prised John Lent and two of his neighbors, they knocked 
out their brains with their tomahawks. They then seized 
Mrs. Barrows and one of her children, and carried them 
away with them. The child, frightened by the presence 
of the savages, began to cry, when it was immediately killed 
in its mother's presence, who was warned to cease her 
demonstrations of grief or she should share the fate of the 
child. She was then carried to St. Augustine, where she was 
delivered to the Spanish governor and thrown into prison, 
against the remonstrances of one of the Yemassee chiefs, who 
stated that he had known her a long time and that she was 

i6 



1 82 HISTORY OF FLORIDA* 

a good woman. The Spaniards, it is said, rejoiced with 
the Indians for the goodly number of scalps they had 
brought. Subsequently, Mr. Barrows went to St. Augus- 
tine to obtain his wife's release, but was thrown into prison, 
and died shortly afterwards. She, eventually, was permitted 
to return to Carolina, and gave an account of the barbarous 
treatment she had received. She reported that rewards 
were given to the Indians to incite them to these incur- 
sions, and that they were instructed to spare none but 
negroes, who were to be brought to St. Augustine.* Don 
Juan de Ayala was at this time governor of East Florida, 
and Don Gregorio de Salinas governor of Pensacola. 
Salinas was succeeded in 171 7 by Don Juan Pedro Meta- 
moras. 

The increasing settlements of the French in Louisiana 
had already occasioned much uneasiness to the governor 
of Pensacola, and he had represented to the Viceroy in 
Mexico the importance of strengthening the fortifications 
of Pensacola. These representations were acted upon, and 
the requisite instructions given to Don Pedro, the new 
governor. 

At the instance of the chief of the Apalachee Indians, 
the governor of St. Augustine sent Captain Don Jose 
Primo de Ribera to erect a fort at St. Mark's, in March, 
1 718, which was named San Marcos de Apalache. During 
the same year a small fortification was erected at St. 
Joseph's Bay by the French, and called Fo?'t Creveccsur, 
which seems to have been a favorite name with the French, 
although the heart of a Frenchman is not so easily broken 
as the name would seem to imply. The Spanish governor 
at Pensacola remonstrated against this occupation of the 
territory of Spain, and in a few months the fort was evac- 

* Hewitt, Hist. Coll. S. C, vol. i. p. 213. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 183 

uated by the French. A Spanish fort was erected at the 
same place, but afterwards abandoned. Don Antonio de 
Benavides was appointed to succeed Juan de Ayala as gov- 
ernor at St. Augustine. 

Monsieur de Bienville, the French commander at Mobile, 
upon being informed that hostilities existed between France 
and Spain, fitted out an expedition against Pensacola, and, 
having sent a large force of Indians by land, embarked with 
his troops, on board of three vessels, to make a sudden 
descent, in the hope of capturing the fort by surprise. 
He landed upon the island of Santa Rosa, where an out- 
post was situated, the garrison of which he soon over- 
powered, and some of the French, putting on the Spanish 
uniform of their captives, awaited the arrival of a detach- 
ment sent down to relieve the post, and captured and 
disarmed them. Taking the boat the Spaniards had 
brought, the French, still disguised, passed over to the 
fort, seized the sentinel on duty, and took possession of 
the guard-house and fort, making the commander a pris- 
oner in his bed, and thus capturing the place without 
firing a shot. Such is the French account of the matter. 
The Spanish authorities confirm the statement of the sur- 
prise at the outpost at Point Siguenza, which was occu- 
pied by an officer and ten men only, but say that the 
fort was assaulted by four French frigates, which opened 
fire upon the Castle de San Carlos, and, after five hours of 
cannonading, the castle, being unable to reply effectively, 
and having only a garrison of one hundred and sixty 
effective men and provisions for fifteen days, and having 
sustained the loss of one man, agreed to capitulate, upon 
the following terms offered by Governor Metamoras : 

That the garrison should march out with the honors of 
war, and retain all private property ; that they should retain 
one cannon, with three charges of powder ; that they 



1 84 HISTORY OF FLORIDA, 

should be transported in French vessels to Havana ; and 
that the town should not be sacked, nor private property 
molested.* 

The garrison was taken by two French vessels to Havana, 
where, by the perfidy of the Spanish commander at that 
place, the vessels were seized and their officers and crews 
cast into prison. An expedition for its recapture was 
immediately equipped, at the suggestion of Governor 
Metamoras. 

The fort at Pensacola had been garrisoned by De Bien- 
ville with a force of some sixty men, under the command 
of Sieur de Chateaugue. The Spaniards had fitted up the 
French vessel called the Due de Noailles, and a. Spanish 
frigate, to retake the fort; and a ruse was adopted by 
sending in the French ship first, which, on being hailed, 
ran up the French flag and gave the name of the French 
captain who had commanded her, and was thereupon 
allowed to pass into the port. When abreast of the fort, 
she was joined by her consort, the flag of Spain w^as dis- 
played, and the garrison summoned to surrender. A brisk 
cannonade ensued, with but trifling damage to the garrison. 
In order to gain time, Chateaugue asked for an armistice 
of four days. The Spanish admiral allowed him two days, 
and Chateaugue dispatched a messenger to Mobile asking 
for reinforcements, which De Bienville was unable to send. 
At the expiration of the armistice, the action was renewed 
until night, during which most of the garrison deserted, 



* The Spanish account seems far more to be relied upon than 
that of the French. It is hardly credible that a force which could 
be transported in a single guard-boat could surprise a well-equipped 
fort and garrison and capture the governor in his bed, and, as the 
frigates were there, it is more probable that a bombardment effected 
the surrender. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 185 

and on the following day the French commander surren- 
dered the fort.* 

The Spanish account of the recapture of the fort places 
their own force at eight hundred and fifty men and that 
of the garrison at three hundred and fifty, and says the 
armistice was for but one day, when the fort surrendered, 
as well as the vessels lying in the harbor. So difficult is 
it ever to find an exact agreement in reference to the 
most simple transactions. The French who were cap- 
tured were sent to Havana as prisoners of war. 

The Spanish general proceeded immediately to strengthen 
the fortifications, and, having sufficiently secured his post 
from assault, he set out, with the forces under his com- 
mand, to attack the French settlement on Dauphin Island. 
Owing to the skill and courage of Bienville, the Spaniards, 
although superior in point of numbers, were unable to 
effect a landing, and were forced, by the arrival of five 
French vessels, to retire to Pensacola. 

The French, now strongly reinforced, determined to 
attempt the recapture of Pensacola, and returned there in 
September, 1719. A force was landed on the Perdido, to 
assail the town in the rear, and the fleet proceeded to the 
bar. A difficulty here presented itself in carrying in the flag- 
ship, the Hercules, which drew twenty-one feet of water ; 
but, by the skill of a Canadian pilot, the ship was carried 
safely in.f 

* The Spanish soldiers were much discontented at not being per- 
mitted to plunder the town, and, in order to gratify them, a detach- 
ment was sent by water to an Indian town not far distant, where a 
large number of slaves belonging to the French Company were, and 
one hundred and sixty of them wex'e captured and given to the troops 
as plunder. — Ensayo Cronologico, p. 234, 

f The pilot was afterwards rewarded for this service with a patent 
of nobility. 

16* 



1 86 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

The French say that upon the appearance of their land- 
forces, accompanied by a large number of Indians, in rear 
of the fort, the garrison, after a very feeble resistance, re- 
tired to a new fort, which they had hastily erected at Point 
Siguenza, called Principe de Asiurias. The Spanish ac- 
counts, however, contend that their troops fought with 
most heroic bravery until their guns were dismounted at 
Point Siguenza and their vessels forced to surrender, and 
that, the French vessels having then entered the port, the 
castle was forced to surrender, which took place on the i8th 
of September, 17 19. 

The French accounts of the capture award great credit 
to the commander at Fort Principe de Asturias for his 
gallant defense, which was continued until his ammunition 
failed, while it is said the commander at Fort San Carlos 
displayed great cowardice. On the following day a 
Spanish vessel entered the port with supplies and dispatches 
from the governor of Havana to the governor at Pensacola, 
the dispatches saying that he was confident the Spanish 
forces had succeeded in conquering all the places held by 
the French in that country, and directing him to send all 
the prisoners to work in the mines, in order to avoid the 
expense of feeding them. 

The French, feeling unable to afford the amount of force 
necessary to hold the place, concluded to destroy the forti- 
fications and public buildings and burn the town, leaving 
only a few small buildings to shelter a guard who were left 
in charge of one small battery. 

Before leaving, the French commander caused the fol- 
lowing inscription to be placed upon a tablet erected on 
the ruins of the fort: — 

''In the year 1719, upon the i8th day of September, 
Monsieur Desnade de Champmeslin, commander of the 
squadron of his Most Christian Majesty, took this place by 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 187 

force of arms, as well also the island of Santa Rosa, by order 
of the King of France." 

Returning first to Dauphin Island, the French fleet sailed 
for France, carrying with them the Spanish garrison of 
Pensacola as prisoners of war. 

Thus, after having been thrice assaulted and thrice cap- 
tured within a period of three months, Pensacola was laid 
in ashes, and the quiet of desolation allowed to rest over 
its remains ; for there was no longer anything to capture or 
anything to defend. 

The town first built by the Spaniards in 1696, and which 
was thus destroyed in 1719, was built where Fort Barrancas 
now stands, the fort being placed in the centre. On the 
opposite point, called Point Siguenza, Fort Principe de As- 
turias had stood, and was destroyed at the same time as Fort 
Carlos. When reoccupied in 1722 by the Spaniards, the 
town was rebuilt on Santa Rosa Island, near where Fort 
Pickens now stands. This location continued to be occu- 
pied until some time between 1743 and 1763, the inhabit- 
ants having begun to plant upon the northern side of the 
bay, and the location upon the island being peculiarly 
sterile and sandy, the settlement was gradually transferred, 
so that in 1763 it was laid out in the form of a city, the 
streets crossing at right angles, making squares four hun- 
dred by two hundred feet, with a large common fronting 
on the bay, about fifteen hundred feet in length by one 
thousand in breadth.* The present city of Pensacola may 
be considered to date back its existence to about the year 
1750, being nearly two hundred years the junior in age of 
St. Augustine. 

After the treaty of peace made in 1722 between France 

* An engraved view of the town as it appeared in 1743 may be seen 
in Roberts's Florida, London, 1743. 



1 88 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

and Spain, Pensacola was restored to the Spanish crown 
and a new town built on Santa Rosa Island, as has just 
been stated. 

The difficulties between the neighboring provinces of Flo- 
rida and Carolina had increased. The Spanish authorities 
at St. Augustine for many years harbored as well as encour- 
aged the desertion of the negroes from the English settle- 
ments, against the continual and earnest remonstrances 
of the authorities of Carolina. The Spanish governors 
or officials had connived at, if not actually incited, the 
plundering incursions of the Yemassees upon the exposed 
frontiers of the English colony. To guard against these 
forays, a small fort had been erected on the banks of the 
Altamaha, called Fort King George. This was considered 
by the Spaniards an encroachment upon the Spanish terri- 
tory, and representations were accordingly made to the 
British crown. A conference of the two governors was 
thereupon directed to be held, to endeavor to settle amica- 
bly the points in dispute between the two provinces. For 
this purpose Don Francisco Menendez and Don Jose 
Ribera came to Charleston, in 1725, to confer with Gov- 
ernor Middleton. In reply to their claim that the fort on 
the Altamaha was within the limits of Florida, Governor 
Middleton appealed to the chartered limits of Carolina in 
confirmation of the English claim to that region. This 
was, of course, no evidence of that claim; but as the Spanish 
governor could show no actual prior occupation since the 
days of Menendez, he could hardly gainsay the English 
claim. On the other hand. Governor Middleton demanded 
an explanation of the course pursued by the Spanish au- 
thorities at St. Augustine in enticing away slaves from the 
English colonists and offering refuge and protection to 
criminals and debtors, and refusing to surrender these 
fugitives. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 189 

The Spanish commissioners expressed their willingness 
to surrender the criminals and debtors, but said they were 
instructed by the Spanish crown not to surrender the fugi- 
tive slaves, on account of the great concern their king and 
master had for their souls, but that compensation would be 
made to their owners for their value. As might be inferred, 
no agreement was come to, and these irritating difficulties 
remained unsettled. 

The incursions of the Yemassees became afterwards more 
frequent and injurious to the colonists. Murders were fre- 
quent, and every negro that could be reached was carried 
off. To put a stop to this state of things. Colonel Palmer, 
an energetic officer, in the year 1727 collected a militia 
force of some three hundred men, with a body of friendly 
Indians, made a rapid and unexpected descent upon the 
Indian and Spanish settlements in Florida, and carried 
desolation and destruction over the whole province, push- 
ing forward to the very gates of St. Augustine, sparing 
nothing which was destructible, and driving off all the 
stock which fell in their way. The Yemassee towns were 
destroyed, many of the natives killed, and a great number 
carried off prisoners.* This chastisement seems to have 
repressed further incursions on the part of the Spanish In- 
dians for a time, and a few years of comparative quiet 
ensued. 

* One of these Yemassee towns, called Macariz, was about one mile 
north of St. Augustine. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Attick on St. Augustine by Oglethorpe — Attack of Monteano on St. 
Simon's Island — Transfer of Florida to Great Britain. 



1722 — 1762. 

The settlement of the new colony of Georgia, in 1732, 
increased the strength of the English settlements, and in- 
terposed another barrier between the Indians and Spaniards 
of Florida and the colonists of Carolina. The Altamaha 
was claimed as the southern boundary of the new colony, 
and a settlement of Scotch Highlanders was planted on the 
banks of that river. A fort was also built at Frederica, to 
command the approach to the settlements on St. Simon's 
Island. In the year 1736, the Spanish government, look- 
ing upon the settlement of Georgia as an encroachment 
upon their limits, sent a commissioner to Oglethorpe re- 
quiring him at once to surrender and evacuate all the terri- 
tories south of St. Helena's Sound, as they belonged to the 
King of Spain, who was determined not to allow of their 
occupation by any other nation. Oglethorpe maintained 
the right of the English crown to all the territory occupied 
by him, and declined to comply with the requirements of 
the Spanish governor. From the imperious nature of the 
demand, Oglethorpe rightly conjectured that he might ex- 
pect an armed invasion of his territory, and proceeded at 
once to England to direct the attention of the crown to 
( 190) 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 191 

the dangers that menaced the infant colony. English com- 
merce had already suffered severely from the interference 
of Spain, and a feeling of hostility to the Spanish preten- 
sions occupied the public mind. Supported by the king, 
and aided by popular sentiment, Oglethorpe was able to 
make strong preparations for the protection of Georgia 
against the anticipated attack. He returned in 1739, 
with the commission of major-general, a regiment of 
soldiers, and considerable pecuniary aid, and proceeded 
to erect forts on the coast and put the province in a state 
of defense. The Spanish force at St. Augustine was also 
strengthened, and both parties labored assiduously to pre- 
pare themselves /or the impending conflict by securing the 
alliance of the Indian tribes of the adjacent regions. Of 
these tribes the Creeks were the most powerful, and they 
took the British side of the dispute. 

Negotiations were meanwhile pending between the two 
governments. The English demanded redress for the in- 
juries inflicted on their commerce, for which the Spaniards 
agreed to award compensation, provided the lands occupied 
by Oglethorpe were given up to them. This was refused, 
and the negotiations failed. The Spaniards at St. Augus- 
tine sent emissaries to the borders of Carolina to entice 
away the negroes, promising them freedom and protection. 
Many negroes had gone to them from time to time, — a suffi- 
cient number, it was said, to enable the Spaniards to form a 
regiment, with officers of their own, placed on the same 
footing, as to pay and uniform, as the Spanish regulars. In 
October, 1739, war was declared by Great Britain against 
Spain, and a squadron was sent to the West Indies to co- 
operate with General Oglethorpe in his intended operations 
against the Spanish provinces in Florida. Oglethorpe at 
once set on foot an expedition to operate against St. Augus- 
tine, and visited South Carolina to engage assistance from 



192 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



that colony, which was readily given, and a joint expedi- 
tion, to operate by land and sea, was agreed upon. 

A regiment of four liundred men was raised in Carolina, 
under Colonel Vanderdussen. The assistance of several 
Indian tribes was sought, and a naval force, to consist of 
four twenty-gun ships and two sloops, was to take part in 
the attack. Oglethorpe had ascertained that the garrison 
at St. Augustine was not very formidable in point of num- 
bers, and was poorly provisioned, and therefore urged for- 
ward his preparations with great vigor, in order to make 
his attack before they could be reinforced. The expedition 
was not ready to march, however, before the latter part of 
April, 1740. In the mean time, the energetic governor of 
Florida, Don Manuel de Monteano, was making every 
preparation to strengthen his defenses against the menaced 
attack of Oglethorpe. The garrison was increased, the ap- 
proaches to the fort were guarded, and the most urgent 
solicitations made for a supply of provisions from Cuba. 
There were at this time several outposts, where a few 
soldiers, under sub-officers, were stationed. One of these 
was on Cumberland Island, but was withdrawn on account 
of its distance and isolation. Another fort, called St. Nico- 
las, was on the St. John's River, a few miles above its mouth. 
At Picolata there were two forts : the larger, on the west 
bank of the river, and called Poppa,* was garrisoned by 
sixty men; the other, at Picolata, had only ten men. These 
forts were designed to keep in check the Indians, and to pro- 
tect the passage of detachments marching from St. Augus- 
tine to Apalachee. An attack had been made upon Fort 
Poppa by a party from the English settlement, in Decem- 
ber, which had proved unsuccessful. In January, however, 

* The remains of Fort Poppa are still visible, near the feny-house 
on the west bank of the St. John's River, opposite Picolata. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



193 



the fort at Picolata was taken, and Oglethorpe seemed to 
expect that the garrison at St. Augustine, being short of 
provisions, would become dissatisfied and desert in large 
numbers to him, while the rest, when driven into their 
castle and bombarded, would speedily surrender.* The 
vessels that composed the English squadron were the Flam- 
borough, Captain Pearce, the Squirrel, Captain Warren, 
the Phoenix, Captain Fanshaw, and the Tartar, Captain 
Townshend, each of twenty guns. The force Oglethorpe 
had at his command in Georgia consisted of a regiment 
of regulars just arrived from England, a company of 
Scotch Highlanders from the Altamaha, under Captain 
Mcintosh, and an inconsiderable body of Indians. The 
place of rendezvous appointed for the land-forces was the 
mouth of the St. John's River. 

Oglethorpe felt the necessity of proceeding with the utmost 
energy ; but, as is usual with such expeditions, made up of 
contingent forces and without regular military organiza- 
tion and discipline, there were delays, so that it was late in 
May — the 24th — before the land-forces reached the mouth 
of the river, about forty miles from St. Augustine. 

About midway stood a fort, called San Diego, garrisoned 
by a few men, who fell back to St. Augustine and left the 
fort in the hands of Oglethorpe's party. On the ist of 
June they reached a small fort, called Fort Moosa, about 
two miles north of St Augustine, and generally called 
The Negro Fort, it having been constructed for the fugi- 
tive slaves from South Carolina, and used by them as a 
place of security. This fort is described as being about 
twenty miles from Fort Diego, and within two miles' dis- 
tance and in full sight of the castle of St. Augustine, and 
situated near the creek which runs between Point Cartel 



* Report of Com. S. C, p. 430. 
17 



194 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

and the castle up to Fort Diego. Fort Moosa was built in 
the middle of a plantation, to protect the negroes from the 
Indians. It was square, with a flanker in each corner, 
banked around with earth, having a ditch without on all 
sides lined with prickly palmetto royal, and contained a 
house, a well, and a lookout. The English found this 
fort deserted, and, for some reason, concluding to destroy 
it, the gate and the house within the fort were burnt, and 
two breaches made in the ramparts, probably with the view 
of preventing its reoccupation by the enemy. Afterwards, 
concluding to garrison it. Colonel Palmer was sent there 
with one hundred and thirty-three men, consisting of Mc- 
intosh's Highlanders and some infantry, forty mounted 
men, and thirty-five Indians. Palmer protested against re- 
maining with so small a force.* 

Lieutenant Bryant was sent out to obtain information, 
and, returning, reported the town to be in great confu- 
sion, the inhabitants "screeching and crying," and recom- 
mended an immediate attack. Oglethorpe then made a re- 
connoissance in person, and, concluding that he would not 
be justified in* exposing his men in so hazardous an attempt, 
determined to fall back to Fort Diego until joined by 
the remainder of his forces. It was not until the 6th of 
June that Colonel Vanderdussen arrived with his Carolina 
regiment, marching along the sea-beach to Point Cartel, 
and about the same time the fleet took position, and the 
siege was formally begun on the 20th of June. 

On the 24th of Junq the English opened fire upon the 
town and castle from three batteries which they had 
erected on Anastasia Island. One of these batteries was 
on the point of the island opposite the fort, and consisted 
of five pieces, — four eighteen-pounders and one nine- 

* MS. Report of Expedition to St. Augustine, S. C, p. 437. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 195 

pounder ; another battery was on the margin of some high- 
wooded ground on the same island, and consisted of two 
eighteen-pounders ; the third battery was on the north 
beach, on North River Point, called San Mateo, and had 
seven pieces, six of which were of iron and one of bronze. 
The mortars and ^'mortarets" were thirty-four in num- 
ber, — two of large size, two medium, and thirty of small 
calibre.* 

On Sunday night, the 25th of June,t a force of three 
hundred men attacked Fort Moosa, then held by Colonel 
Palmer (who, it will be remembered, had remonstrated 
against being left there with so small a garrison). There 
had been much dissatisfaction from the first among the 
officers. Colonel Palmer believed the fort to be untenable, 
and desired his officers to go out and scout about the 
country^ which they declined doing. There was some dif- 
ficulty, too, about the command, between Colonel Palmer 
and Captains Mcintosh and McKay, and this led to in- 
subordination, and the garrison was not in condition to 
make as firm a resistance as would have been otherwise 
maintained and as might have proved effectual. As it 
was, they were taken by surprise and overcome. 

As there was at that time much discussion and recrimi- 
nation in reference to this matter, it may be as well to in- 
sert, verbatim, the account of one of the party engaged in 
the affair, as given before an investigating committee of 
the Carolina House of Assembly. The account is as 
follows : — 

^'On the 15th of June, about ten o'clock p.m., one of 
my rangers reported he had heard the Indian war-dance. 



* Monteano MS. Dispatch, No. 205. 

•}• The English account says 15th June. The discrepancy may arise 
from the difference in computation, — Old Style and New Style. 



196 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

Thereupon Colonel Palmer said we might expect a brush 
before day, and ordered the men to lie down and take a 
nap, and he would awake them by three or four o'clock. 
Accordingly he did so, and all the rangers got up imme- 
diately and stood to their arms. Then the colonel went 
into the fort and aroused the garrison, and, telling them 
the danger they were in, urged them to stand to their arms. 
But, as usual, not regarding him, they all lay down again. 
This put him into a great passion, and, coming out, he said 
he did not know what they trusted to, — that the Spaniards 
would surely attack them after the Indian manner, and re- 
peated that the general had sent them there to be sacrificed. 
He stood for some time after in the gateway, talking with 
one Jones. On a sudden one of the sentinels called out 
that there was a party of men coming. Colonel Palmer 
called out aloud, ' Stand to your arms \ not a man of you 
fire ; receive their first fire, then half of you fire and fall 
back, making room for the rest to come up, and we will 
kill them like dogs.' Some of the Highlanders, then upon 
guard in the bastions, fired notwithstanding. Directly the 
enemy poured in a large volley, upon which the colonel 
said, 'Are these the men I have to trust to ? I thought so 
before,' and betook himself to the ditch. The rangers, 
who were about twelve yards without, followed the colonel 
as he had before directed them, because they would be in 
as much danger from the fire of the Highlanders within 
the fort as from the enemy without. Jones ran into the 
fort and got all the Indians together in one flanker, there 
being great hurry and confusion among the men, some be- 
ing dressed and some undressed. Jones went into every 
flanker three times, yet could not find Captain Mcintosh or 
see anything of the soldiers. He found Captain McKay 
in one of them, just got up, in his shirt, with a small-sword 
and a musket. Jones advised Captain McKay to support 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 197 

the gate with the Highlanders, but to no purpose. In the 
mean time the enemy, attacking in different parties, par- 
ticularly endeavored to force their way into the fort through 
the gate. But it was so well defended during a constant fire 
on all sides for a quarter of an hour, from the two flankers 
that commanded that side, and by Colonel Palmer, who kept 
forming and encouraging his men, that they were repulsed 
twice. At length they came on again, sword in hand, and 
entered the gate, being led by an officer whom Jones shot at 
his entrance. At the same time another party entered at one 
of the breaches, and soon the fort was full of Spaniards, it 
being now about half an hour before day. McKay immedi- 
ately jumped over into the ditch, sword in hand, and ad- 
vised all to shift for themselves. Soon after Mcintosh was 
carried out, a prisoner. They continued some time longer 
at club-work, cutting and slashing as fast as they could, 
until, the Spaniards being evidently masters, all that were 
able jumped into the ditch and made their way off through 
the enemy that surrounded the fort. Among these were 
Jones and six Indians, who on their way were joined by 
Colonel Palmer's two sons, the captain and his brother, 
and one of the rangers, who all together kept firing as they 
marched, and so, opening a way for themselves, escaped, 
Captain Palmer in particular killing a Spanish Indian. All 
this time Colonel Palmer maintained the ditch, with only 
two of his company by his side. At last he was shot from 
within the fort, and, bleeding very much inwardly from the 
mouth, he yet loaded his gun, and, when almost gone, 
reeling and panting, he cried out as he fell, ' Huzza, my 
boys ! the day is ours ! I have been in many a battle, and 
never lost one yet!' " 

Others escaped to Point Cartel by the creek. Fifty 
whites and Indians were killed, and twenty prisoners were 
taken. Colonel Palmer was the only Carolinian killed. 

17* 



1^8 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

The enemy's force consisted of three hundred forzadas 
(convicts) and negroes. They lost two officers, including 
their commander, and had as many killed as the English. * 

Governor Monteano says that the attack on Fort Moosa 
was made with three hundred men, at eleven o'clock at 
night, with such impetuosity that sixty-eight of the Eng- 
lish were left dead on the field and thirty-four were 
taken prisoners. The English force was stated by pris- 
oners to be from one hundred and forty to one hundred 
and seventy, of whom thirty-five were Indians, Ychies and 
Uchies, commanded by a white chief. That an Indian- 
reported he saw the body of Colonel Palmer, headless. 
Monteano acknowledges the loss of Lieutenant Don Jose 
de Aguilar and nine soldiers, and says his forces destroyed 
the fort and buried the dead. 

It appears pretty clearly, from the accounts on both 
sides, that, although not actually surprised, the greater part 
of Palmer's forces were entirely unprepared and had made 
no preparations for a successful resistance. The number 
of killed would show that there was a somewhat desperate 
hand-to-hand conflict, and from Colonel Palmer's remark 
it would appear that many of the English suffered from 
the misdirected aim of their comrades in the fort. 

Disorganization and want of discipline, and the lack of 
unity in the counsels at Fort Moosa, led to the natural 
result. The success of the Spaniards greatly encouraged 
them to make strenuous efforts for the defense of the castle, 
while the besiegers became depressed and anxious, and 

* Captain Mcintosh, in a letter written while he was a prisoner in 
Spain, says, " Seven hundred Spaniards sallied out to attack us. They 
did not surprise us, but put on with numbers. Twenty were taken 
prisoners, a few got off; the rest killed. The Spaniards lost three 
hundred killed on the spot, besides wounded." — MS. in Ga. Hist. 
Soc. Library ; Fairbanks' s Hist. St. Augustine, p. 147. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 199 

were daily suffering from the effects of the midsummer heat 
in this exposed position, where, too, they were annoyed by 
swarms of insects, from which they could invent no protec- 
tion. 

Oglethorpe, however, proceeded with his offensive opera- 
tions, and, having completed his first battery, on the 19th 
of June formally summoned the Spanish garrison to sur- 
render. On the following day. Governor Monteano re- 
turned his answer, in which he '' swore by the Holy Cross 
that he would defend the castle to the last drop of his 
blood, and hoped soon to kiss his Excellencie's hand within 
its walls." It is said, however, on English authority, that 
the majority of the people of St. Augustine were in favor 
of a surrender, on condition that they should be permitted 
to go to Havana ; but the governor and bishop, who, it is 
said, had come to a knowledge of the time our men-of- 
war intended to stay, would not consent.* This statement 
refers to a determination made by the commander of the 
fleet, and communicated to General Oglethorpe on the 6th 
of June, that he should deem it unsafe to remain on the 
coast later than the 5 th of July, and which communication 
may have reached the ears of the Spanish government 
through deserters,"!" or through prisoners captured at Fort 
Moosa. A few days afterwards, some Chickasaw Indians 
brought into camp the head of a Spanish Indian, and pre- 
sented it as a trophy to General Oglethorpe, who, wholly 
unaccustomed to the barbarities of savage warfare, spurned 
the offering and called the Indians barbarous dogs. This 
surprised and greatly exasperated them, and they soon 
after deserted. The batteries continued to play upon the 
town and fort, but with indifferent success, owing to the 

■^ Report of Com. S. C. House of Assembly, pp. 453-4- 
f Monteano says a deserter came over on the 14th of June. 



200 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

short range of the guns and the want of precision in 
handling them, but still more to the peculiar nature of 
the material of which the castle was built ; being con- 
structed of a stone formed by the aggregation of small 
shells, thoroughly compacted, soft and yielding in appear- 
ance, but offering very much the same resistance to cannon- 
shot as that of moss or cotton on the face of a sand battery. 
The balls penetrated the stone to about their own depth, 
but made no fracture. Probably a continuous battering 
with modern rifled cannon might have cut through these 
walls and brought them down ; but with such guns as were 
then used the castle was impregnable. The English claimed 
that all the shells fired except three broke either in the 
town or castle ; but Monteano, in a report to the governor 
of Cuba, says that up to the 6th of July, although one 
hundred and fifty-three shells had fallen, his garrison and 
people had received no injury. 

Oglethorpe knew that the Spaniards were short of pro- 
visions, and vigilantly guarded the entrances to St. Augus- 
tine by the main bar and Matanzas Inlet, but neglected 
to blockade a port some sixty miles south, at Mosquito. 
This port communicated by tide-water within a few miles 
of the head of the Matanzas River, so that vessels might 
unload their cargoes at Mosquito, to be transshipped, by 
small boats to the intervening haul-over, and thence again 
to St. Augustine. It seems a little singular that in this 
fruitful country the people should have been so entirely 
dependent upon supplies furnished from abroad ; but this 
was the case with all of the early settlers ; and had Ogle- 
thorpe effectually blockaded Mosquito, or placed a vessel 
inside Matanzas River to cut off that communication, the 
Spanish garrison would soon have been reduced by starva- 
tion, for the tenor of Monteano' s letters to his superior in 
Cuba was, ''■ Provisions, or I starve." The communication 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 20 1 

with Cuba was kept up by way of Apalachee, and also by 
canoes sent to the Florida Keys, there to connect by fish- 
ing-smacks with Cuba. 

The Spaniards had within the harbor some half-galleys, 
upon which they had mounted a few guns, and from time 
to time greatly annoyed the English by threatening a night- 
attack, so that they were kept in a continual state of anxiety. 
On the I St of July there were fifty reported sick in the 
English camp, and Captain Wright, with the South Caro- 
lina volunteers, determined to return home. About this 
time, also, several deserters went over to the Spaniards, 
among them an Irishman,* and a man from New England, 
who reported to Monteano the condition of things in Ogle- 
thorpe's garrison. The latter had learned the inefficiency 
of his batteries, but still hoped to reduce the castle by 
starvation, until on the 27th of June he was informed by 
the captain of the vessel which lay off Matanzas Inlet 
that he had seen lying at Mosquito Bar a large sloop, two 
schooners, and some launches. Monteano says that on the 
7th of July he received intelligence, through Luis Gomez, 
that vessels had arrived at Mosquito bringing him supplies ; 
so it seems that, allowing for the difference in computation 
of time between the English and Spaniards, Monteano 
and Oglethorpe must have been informed about the same 
time of the arrival of the vessels which brought to the 
former confidence and relief and to the latter discourage- 
ment. On the same day the commander of the fleet in- 
formed Oglethorpe that, as the easterly winds were coming 
in, he felt obliged to ship his anchors and stand off. 

Oglethorpe seems to have then concluded to make a 
night-assault upon St. Augustine, as a deserter informed 

* Bayley, an Irishman, deserted, but was caught by a negro, tried by 
court-martial, and shot. — S. C, Rep. 



202 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

Monteano of the intention of the English to attack him 
during one of the dark nights that were approaching. In the 
mean time, the supply-vessels were safely discharged at Mos- 
quito, and the transshipment by the inland route was com- 
menced and carried on securely, until rendered unnecessary 
by the removal of the English ships, which made it safe 
for small vessels to enter at Matanzas Inlet. On the 3d of 
July Colonel Vanderdussen's scouts on Anastasia Island dis- 
covered launches coming up Matanzas River, and he there- 
upon went with a detachment to the narrows, hoping to cut 
off the passage of the launches, but was driven off by the 
armed galleys that now guarded the river. The next day 
the question of abandoning the siege was discussed by the 
English commanders, and Colonel Vanderdussen, it is 
said, was opposed to withdrawing. But Oglethorpe felt 
that the force at his command was wholly inadequate for 
prosecuting the siege. Many of his men were sick, the 
fleet had withdrawn, and, the Spanish garrison having re- 
ceived supplies, there was no longer a hope of reducing 
them by starvation. It was therefore decided to raise the 
siege and abandon the enterprise for the present. On the 
7th of July most of the guns from the batteries were placed 
on board the ships, which crossed the bar and went out on 
the 9th. Three six-pounders were buried in the sand at 
Point Cartel, and one eighteen-pounder at the battery 
nearest the fort. 

The amount of stores destroyed did not probably ex- 
ceed one hundred pounds in value. It is said that ^'the 
soldiers were loath to part with the liquor, and drank very 
freely of it." The troops marched on the loth, with ban- 
ners flying and drums beating, but were unable to provoke 
an attack from the Spaniards, Monteano doubtless think- 
ing that "prudence was the better part of valor." The 
loss at Moosa was the only serious one sustained by the 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 203 

English in battle. The Carolina regiment lost but eight 
men by sickness, four by accident, and two by desertion to 
the enemy. The small number of deaths speaks well for 
the healthiness of their encampment on Anastasia Island. 
But the siege was undertaken too late in the season, when 
there was much unavoidable suffering from the heat and 
insects, sand-flies and mosquitos, which must of course 
have interfered seriously with the efliciency of Oglethorpe's 
small command. Had he arrived sixty days earlier, he 
might have accomplished more than he did ; but it is hardly 
to be supposed that, with his small numbers and insufficient 
siege-guns, he could at any season have reduced the castle 
at St. Augustine, fortified as it was with all the equipments 
known to the military engineers of that day. The shal- 
lowness of the water on the bar prevented the entrance of 
the English ships to participate in the attack, while the 
armed galleys of the Spaniards effectually protected the 
town from assault by small boats. St. Augustine is situated 
upon a narrow peninsula formed by the Sebastian and 
Matanzas Rivers, the waters of which are connected by a 
ditch at the north end of the town, where the fort stands. 
Palisades and batteries defended the only open side of the 
town, in front of which a space of fifteen hundred yards 
was kept clear of all obstructions, so that in order to attack 
the town from the land-approaches the enemy would have 
to pass over this open space under fire from the fort, 
batteries, and earthworks that protected it. If the town 
itself had been taken, the castle could have sustained a. 
siege, unless forced to surrender for want of provisions. 
Had Oglethorpe effectually blockaded the ports, including 
Mosquito Inlet, or had he cut off inland communication 
with Matanzas River, it would have been almost impossible 
for Monteano to obtain supplies; but these avenues of 
communication with the Spanish garrison seem not to have 



204 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

been known or clearly understood by the English com- 
mander. 

The failure of his expedition created great dissatisfaction 
in Carolina, and, as usual, recriminations were indulged in ; 
disputes arose between the South Carolina and Georgia 
partisans, each endeavoring to throw the entire respon- 
sibility of the failure upon the other. The disputes 
were never settled satisfactorily, and criticisms have ex- 
tended down even to our own time ; but the conclusion 
arrived at by those who have thoroughly examined the 
matter seems to be, that no blame could be attached to 
either party, and that the want of success was owing 
to circumstances over which neither the commander nor 
his troops had any control. The season was certainly 
most unfavorable, and the force placed at the control of 
Oglethorpe was felt by him to be insufficient ; but the 
urgency of the case seemed to admit of no delay, and 
doubtless, had the attempt not been made, greater dis- 
satisfaction would have been felt than was created by 
the failure of the expedition. It has been supposed that a 
discrepancy existed in the English and Spanish reports as 
to the date at which supplies arrived from Cuba ; but this 
is satisfactorily reconciled by observing that the computa- 
tion in the Spanish accounts was made according to the 
New Style, and that in the English by the Old Style. 

Monteano was informed by deserters that it was the pur- 
pose of Oglethorpe to return in the winter or spring with 
a larger force ; and he accordingly labored with great dili- 
gence to strengthen his position, and urged upon the gov- 
ernor of Cuba the necessity of sending him strong rein- 
forcements. The castle had sustained no material injury 
in the late bombardment, as its walls now, after a lapse of 
more than one hundred years, attest ; but more men were 
needed, for, according to Monteano's statement, he had a 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



205 



nominal force of seven hundred and fifty men, and of these 
only three hundred and fifty-six could be relied on for 
active duty. He asked for three hundred and ninety-four 
to make up the complement of the garrison, and three 
hundred more to strengthen it against the return of Ogle- 
thorpe;* these three hundred to be ''men of arms, mulat- 
toes and free negroes," to be sent out immediately, the 
regulars and artillery not later than the ensuing December. "j" 
He urged constantly upon the governor of Cuba the 
necessity of sending him reinforcements to meet the appre- 
hended attack of the English ; and it undoubtedly was the 
intention of Oglethorpe to return to St. Augustine when- 
ever he had such force as experience had proved to be 
necessary. 

Eight companies of infantry were sent to Monteano ; 
and in the following spring, finding the attention of the 
English apparently withdrawn from further offensive opera- 
tions, he advised the invasion of South Carolina and 
Georgia. A destructive fire had occurred in Charleston, 
consuming three hundred of the best buildings in the place \ 
and, the province being greatly depressed by the heavy in- 
debtedness in which the expedition to Florida had involved 
her, Monteano thought that the misfortunes of his neigh- 
bors invited an invasion of their province with the greater 
promise of success. He hoped to strike them with terror 
by an attack which would threaten them with an insurrec- 
tion of their slaves, and which, by the destruction of their 
city and some of their plantations, would create consterna- 
tion, and perhaps cause the flight of many. 

The proposition of Monteano does not appear to have 
been acted on immediately, and the year 1741 passed 

■^ Monteano MS., Carta de 7 Agosto, 1740. 
f Monteano MS. 

18 



2o6 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

away without active operations on either side. Prepara- 
tions were, however, made by the Spaniards with the view 
of invading the English colonies with a large force in the 
following spring. Early in the spring of 1742, the governor 
of Cuba dispatched an expedition designed to operate 
against the settlements in Georgia. It consisted of some two 
thousand men, and went first to St. Augustine, where great 
delay occurred, from the difficulty of organizing that por- 
tion of the expedition that was to be formed from the gar- 
rison at that place. In the mean time, Oglethorpe was 
apprised of the proximity of the Spanish fleet. He at 
once called to his aid the friendly Indians attached to his 
service, and sent a message to Carolina, urging prompt 
assistance. No effort was spared to strengthen his position 
and to use to the best advantage his very limited means, 
and, without professional engineers, he went to work to 
construct batteries to command the approach to St. Simon's 
Island. 

The Spanish fleet, consisting of thirty-six sail, received 
at St. Augustine an additional force of one thousand men, 
and was placed under the command of Governor Monteano. 
On the 5th of July, 1742, he entered the harbor of St. 
Simon's, where he met with strong resistance from Ogle- 
thorpe, who had mounted guns on two vessels in the harbor, 
and kept up a steady fire from these and his batteries on 
the shore. After four hours' engagement, Monteano suc- 
ceeded in passing these and getting beyond the range of 
the guns ; whereupon Oglethorpe determined to abandon 
the works and retire to Frederica. Having destroyed the 
fort and batteries at St. Simon's, he succeeded in safely 
retreating to Frederica with several vessels, and there 
awaited the attack of Monteano. Two days later the 
Spanish general landed his troops and commenced his 
march. In order to reach Frederica he was obliged to 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



207 



pass over a narrow causeway through the marshes, and, 
while crossing this place, he was attacked, and sustained 
such heavy losses that he fell back to the cover of his camp, 
leaving many prisoners in the hands of the English. A 
few days afterwards the Spaniards attempted to ascend the 
river and attack Frederica Dy water, but they encountered 
such a warm reception that they again fell back. Ogle- 
thorpe learned that in the action at the causeway Monteano 
lost four captains and over two hundred men, and that 
a number had also been killed at the action with the bat- 
teries. The English general determined to avail himself 
of the evident discouragement prevailing in the Spanish 
camp, and by a night-attack add to their apprehension and 
dissatisfaction, and accordingly marched his forces to the 
neighborhood of the Spanish camp. But the desertion of 
a Frenchman, who betrayed his plans to the enemy, com- 
pelled him to abandon the attack. This apparently unfor- 
tunate incident was, however, used to good effect by the 
ready genius of Oglethorpe. Calling in one of his Span- 
ish prisoners, he gave him a sum of money and promised 
him his liberty if he would carry a letter from him to the 
French deserter. This letter was in French, and purported 
to be written by a friend of the Frenchman, desiring him 
to persuade the Spaniards that the English forces were weak 
and could be easily overcome ; and he was then to induce 
them (the Spaniards), if possible, to allow him to pilot 
them up a safe passage to the English fort, but he was to 
bring them directly upon concealed batteries ; and, if the 
plan was carried out faithfully, the Frenchman was to re- 
ceive a liberal reward. When the Spaniard arrived in 
camp, he was carried immediately before the governor and 
questioned as to his escape and whether he had letters. 
He said he had none, but, upon being searched, the letter 
was found. The Frenchman denied knowing the writer of 



2o8 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

it or anything of its contents ; but, on trial, he was con- 
demned as a double spy, and so the object of Oglethorpe's 
intrigue Avas effected, in having awakened the distrust of 
the Spaniards towards the French deserter. Monteano 
was, however, greatly perplexed by the letter, and re-em- 
barked his troops. Just at this critical time, three vessels, 
that had been sent from Charleston to aid Oglethorpe, ap- 
peared in sight, and Monteano, believing that the English 
would be heavily reinforced, determined to retire. An 
attack was made upon Fort William by a portion of the 
fleet, but was unsuccessful ; whereupon the entire Spanish 
force retired to Cuba and St. Augustine, deeply chagrined 
at the failure of their enterprise.* There appears to have 
been a want of cordiality and co-operation between Ogle- 
thorpe and the Carolinians on this occasion, caused, it is 
said, by their distrust of the general's abilities as a military 
leader, — the unfortunate expedition to St. Augustine being 
still fresh in their memories; but Oglethorpe's repulse of 
Monteano restored their confidence and established his 
reputation as one of the most distinguished colonial gov- 
ernors on this continent. In March of the next year, 
1743, Oglethorpe made a sudden descent upon Florida, 
and marched to the gates of St. Augustine, offering battle, 
and the Indians attached to his force advanced with so 
much celerity that they captured and slew forty of the 
Spanish troops under the very walls of the fort where they 
were seeking shelter.")* The Spaniards refusing to fight, 
Oglethorpe retired ; and, though it was reported that troops 
were to be sent from Havana to destroy the English colonies, 
no further hostilities occurred, and comparative peace pre- 

* General Oglethorpe's letter to the Duke of Newcastle, July 30, 
1741. 

f General Oglethorpe's letter, 21st March, 1743. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



209 



vailed for many years, although the Indians in the Spanish 
interest continued to molest and ravage the English border 
settlements. The garrison at St. Augustine was greatly 
reduced after the necessity for defensive operations had 
ceased, and in 1759 Governor Palazir reports his com- 
mand as only five hundred men in all on duty there. 

A treaty was concluded between Great Britain and Spain 
in the year 1748, which caused a suspension of hostilities 
between the colonies. The progress of French settlements 
in the West began to create uneasiness, as a conflict of in- 
terest threatened between the trading- houses of the three 
rival nations. Upon the renewal of hostilities between 
Spain and Great Britain, in 1762, Havana fell into the 
hands of the English, which at once isolated St. Augustine 
from its home government and sources of supply. England 
had long desired to complete her colonial boundaries by 
the acquisition of Florida, and the capture of Havana 
seemed to offer a favorable opportunity, by arranging for 
its transfer to Spain in exchange for Florida. This was 
effected in concluding the treaty between England, France, 
and Spain, November 3, 1762, and ratified on the loth of 
February, 1763. By this treaty, the provinces of East and 
West Florida were ceded to Great Britain, and Cuba was 
restored to Spain. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Policy of the English Government for the Settlement of Florida — Land-" 
Grants — Dr. Turnbull's Colony of Greeks and Minorcans at Smyrna 
— Governor Grant's Administration — Governor Tonyn's Adminis- 
tration — First Colonial Assembly — Revolutionary War — Burning of 
Effigies of Hancock and Adams. 

1763—1779. 

The change of flags was excessively distasteful to the 
Spanish population of Florida. Apart from the feelings 
engendered by the long continuance of hostilities between 
themselves and the neighboring English colonies, there 
was the utter repugnance arising from religious prejudices 
and traditional animosities, extending back to the days of 
Henry VIII. 

The nineteenth article of the treaty between Spain and 
England provided that Great Britain should grant to the 
inhabitants of the countries ceded ''the liberty of the ■ 
Catholic religion, and that his Britannic Majesty will, in 
consequence, give the most exact and the most effectual 
orders that his new Roman Catholic subjects may profess 
the worship of their religion according to the rites of the 
Roman Church, so far as the laws of Great Britain per- 
mit." His majesty further agreed that the Spanish inhab-, 
itants or others who have been subjects to the Catholic 
king in the said countries, may retire in all safety and 
freedom, etc. These guarantees, though in liberality and 
toleration far in advance of the principles and practice of 
(210) 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 211 

the Catholic King of Spain, were insufficient to overcome 
the repugnance of the inhabitants to passing under the 
domination of England. 

On the 7th of October, 1763, the King of Great Britain, 
taking into consideration the extensive and valuable ac- 
quisitions in America secured to his crown by the treaty 
of the preceding year, issued a royal proclamation, in 
which he declared that, with the advice of his privy coun-~ 
cil, he had granted letters-patent, under the great seal, 
'^ to erect, within the countries and islands ceded and con- 
firmed to us by the said treaty, four distinct and separate 
governments, styled and called by the names of Quebec, 
East Florida, West Florida, and Granada." 

The government of East Florida was declared to be 
bounded to the westward by the Gulf of Mexico and the 
Apalachicola River ; to the northward, by a line drawn 
from that part of the said river where the Chattahoochee 
and Flint Rivers meet, to the source of the St. Mary's 
River, and by the course of the said river to the Atlantic 
Ocean ; and to the eastward and southward, by the Gulf of 
Florida, including all islands within six leagues of the sea- 
coast. 

The government of West Florida was declared to be 
bounded to the southward by the Gulf of Mexico, includ- 
ing all islands within six leagues of the sea-coast, from the 
river Apalachicola to Lake Pontchartrain ; to the westward, 
by said lake, the Lake Maurepas, and the river Mississippi ; 
to the northward, by a line drawn due east from that part 
of the river Mississippi which lies in thirty-one degrees 
(31°) of north latitude, to the river Apalachicola or Chat- 
tahoochee ; and to the eastward, by said river. 

It will thus be seen that" Florida in 1763 embraced all 
of the coast of Alabama, Mississippi, and a part of that of 
Louisiana. 



212 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

The letters-palent constituting the new governments gave 
express power and directions to the governors of the respect- 
ive provinces, that, so soon as the state of the colonies would 
admit, they should, with the advice and consent of the mem- 
bers of their several councils, summon General Assemblies 
within their respective governments, in such manner and 
form as were used and directed in those colonies and prov- 
inces in America which were under the king's immediate 
government. Power was also given to the said governors, 
with the consent of the councils and the representatives of 
the people, to make laws for the public peace, welfare, and 
good government as nearly as might be agreeable to the 
laws of England, and under such regulations and restric- 
tions -as were used in other colonies; and until such assem- 
blies could be called, the governors, with the assent of 
their respective councils, were authorized to establish 
courts of judicature in their respective colonies. 

This was the first admission of representative govern- 
ment within the bounds of Florida, and indicates the 
source of the unexampled prosperity which attended the 
efforts of Great Britain in the work of colonization. The 
narrow and autocratic regulations with which other powers 
had endeavored to regulate their colonial dependencies, 
and which were aggravated by the distance from the seat 
of power, gave no voice in the government to the colonists, 
and had a tendency to repress all enterprise and chill all 
public spirit. Colonies are usually increased by the favor- 
ble representations of their first settlers ; and their opinions 
will be influenced, favorably or otherwise, quite as much 
by the institutions of a country as by its physical advan- 
tages. 

The Spanish system of colonial administration advanced 
none of the material interests of the country, and the gov- 
ernment never treated the inhabitants as capable of self- 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 213 

government, but collected around its garrisoned posts a 
crowd of parasites and dependents, who were contented to 
live in safety under its protection, satisfied with salaries and 
petty employments. 

With the view of encouraging the speedy settlement of 
the newly-acquired territories, the English governors were - 
empowered and directed to grant lands, without fee or re- " 
ward, to such reduced officers as had served during the late 
war, and to such private soldiers as had been or should be - 
disbanded in America, and were actually residing there, 
and should personally apply for such grants, subject, at the 
expiration of ten years, to the same quit-rents as other 
lands in the provinces in which they were granted, as 
also to the same conditions of cultivation and improve- 
ment. These grants were to be proportioned to the 
rank of the applicants. A field-officer was to receive five 
thousand acres ; a captain, three thousand ; a subaltern 
or staff-officer, two thousand ; every non-commissioned 
officer, two hundred acres ; and every private soldier, fifty 
acres. 

At the period of the cession of Florida, the Spanish 
flag had floated over the city of St. Augustine for one hun- 
dred and ninety years. Within that period, the French 
had made settlements in Louisiana, and on the Mississippi 
from its mouth to the Falls of St. Anthony, and thence 
eastward along the great lakes to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
as well as on the Ohio and other principal rivers. The 
English had occupied the whole Atlantic seaboard with 
her colonies, which now comprised a population of nearly 
three millions. At the close of nearly two hundred years 
from her occupation of Florida, Spain occupied but little 
more territory than at the beginning ; and the entire popu- . 
lation of Florida at the time of the cession hardly ex- 
ceeded six or seven thousand, and the interior of the 



214 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



country was almost as much of a wilderness as ever. The 
Spanish population was gathered within the towns of St. 
Augustine and Pensacola and Mobile, and hardly any agri- 
cultural population existed. The people were mostly de- 
pendents upon the military and civic employment of the 
government, and seem to have been greatly deficient in in- 
dustry and enterprise. 

The change of government of course involved the loss 
of official employment, and this portion of the inhabitants 
withdrew at once to the West Indies and Mexico. The 
oppressive conduct of Major Ogilvie, who held the tem- 
porary command of the province immediately after its 
cession, is said to have had much influence upon the re- 
moval of the Spanish inhabitants, which was so complete 
that not more than five persons remained ; and had it not 
been for the efforts of the commanding officer the retiring 
inhabitants would have destroyed every house and building 
in St. Augustine. The governor destroyed his fine garden,^ 
and the inhabitants before they left not only assumed to \ 
sell their houses in town, but the whole country, to a few I 
gentlemen who remained there for that purpose.* 

General James Grant was appointed the first English - 
governor of East Florida in 1763, and proceeded to adopt - 
the most salutary measures to promote the settlement of 
the province and to develop its resources. In a procla- 
mation, issued in October, 1767, he especially refers to the 
great salubrity of the country and the extreme age which 
its inhabitants had attained. He refers also to the advan- 
tages which the climate offers for the production of indigo 
and the fruits and tropical productions of the West 
Indies. 

Under the impetus of the patronage of the government, ■ 

* Forbes's Florida, p. 18. ^. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 215 

attention was drawn to Florida, and emigration from the 
British Islands to its shores encouraged. Public roads 
were laid out, and so well constructed that they remain to 
this day the best roads in the State, and are still known 
as the "king's roads." Bounties were offered upon indigo, 
naval stores, etc., in order to stimulate their production. 
Pamphlets descriptive of the country were issued in Eng- 
land, and letters recounting its many advantages appeared 
in the newspaper publications of the day, and two or more 
works with engraved illustrations were issued from the press.* 
In the year 1765, a general council of the western tribes 
of Indians Avas held at Mobile, attended by the head-men 
and warriors of the Chickasaws and Choctaws, and by the 
British governor of West Florida. At this council a tariff 
of trade was settled to the satisfaction of the Indians. 

The road from Fort Barrington, on the St. Mary's, to 
St. Augustine, now called the King's Road, was con- 
structed in 1765 by the subscription of several public- 
spirited gentlemen, among whom were Governors Grant 
and Moultrie, and Messrs. Forbes, Fish, Izard, Pinckney,- 
Gerard, Walton, Manigault, Oswald, Huger, Henry, Lau- 
rens, Elliot, Murray, and others, names which indicate 
that the distinguished families of South Carolina bearing 
those names once belonged to Florida.']' 

A considerable emigration, consisting of some forty 
families, went from Bermuda, in 1766, to Mosquito, with 
the purpose of applying themselves to ship-building. The 
fine groves of live-oak in that neighborhood had attracted 
the attention of the British government, and the abundant 
supply of ship-timber was considered among the most val- 
uable fruits of the acquisition of Florida. 

* Roberts's Florida, London. 

f Forbes's Florida, 73; Stark's Florida, London, 



21 6 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

An association was formed in London, at the head of 
which was Dr. Andrew TurnbuU, a Scotch gentleman, hav- 
ing in view the settlement of the large and very valuable 
body of land lying near Mosquito Inlet. They proposed 
to accomplish this purpose by procuring settlers from the 
south of Europe and the Mediterranean islands of Minorca, 
etc., who, living in a similar climate, might successfully 
transplant to and cultivate the productions of their country 
on the rich lands of Florida. 

Sir William Duncan and Dr. Turnbull, at an expense 
of one hundred and sixty-six thousand dollars, brought 
from Smyrna, under indentures, fifteen hundred Greeks,' 
Italians, and Minorcans, who formed a settlement at 
Mosquito and called it New Smyrna. Their indentures- 
required them, in consideration of the sums paid for 
their passage and support, to labor for the proprietors a 
certain number of years, at the end of which they were 
to be entitled to receive grants of land in proportion 
to the number of persons in their families. The location 
of the settlement was well chosen, on the line below the 
region of frost, situated upon a river abounding in fish, 
turtle, and oysters, with a rich and productive soil, in the 
hammocks bordered by pine ridges favorable to health. 
Much labor was expended in opening canals and ditches, 
and in making various permanent improvements, among 
which was the stone wharf which still remains. The opera- 
tions of the colony were carried on with much system, and, 
it is said, with success. Indigo and sugar were the principal 
articles cultivated, but the vine and fig were planted. 

The settlement of the new town of Pensacola, upon the- 
mainland, where it now stands, had been commenced by. 
the Spanish inhabitants before the cession, and the old 
settlement on Santa Rosa Island almost entirely abandoned. 
The arrival of the English gave an impulse to the growth- 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



217 



of the ii^tv city, and its being now made the capital of the 
colonial government of the province of West Florida, and 
the presence of a large garrison, for whose accommoda- 
tion extensive barracks were constructed, made it a place 
of considerable importance. The expenditures of the 
British government in carrying on the government of West 
Florida during the last three years of the English occupa- 
tion amounted to the large sum of four hundred and five 
thousand pounds. Those for East Florida, during the 
same period, were about one hundred and thirty-five thou- 
sand pounds. The expenditures of the Spanish govern- 
ment were for both provinces about one hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars per annum. The population of West 
Florida did not increase so rapidly as that of the eastern 
province, being more distant and less accessible from the 
Atlantic coast. There seems to have been the usual amount 
of provincial intrigue and local politics in West Florida, 
as in other small communities.* 

Published letters, written by officers of the garrison at 

* One of the officers, writing from Pensacola in 1770, says, "Affairs 
in our unlucky province have as yet been upon a very unstable foot- 
ing. Whether this ill fate is still doomed to be our lot, or whether we 
are about to emerge from such unhappy circumstances, a little time 
will discover." 

" Pensacola has been justly famed for vexatious lawsuits. It is 
contrived, indeed, that if a poor man owes but five pounds, and has 
not got so much ready money, or if he disputes some dollars of im- 
position that may be in the account, or if he is guilty of shaking his 
fist at any rascal that has abused him, he is sure to be prosecuted ; 
and the costs of every suit are about seven pounds sterling ... I 
have known this province for a little more than four years, yet I could 
name to you a set of men who may brag of one governor resigned, one 
horse-whipped, and one whom they led by the nose and supported 
while it suited their purpose and then betrayed him. What the next 
turn of affairs will be, God knows." — Forbes, p. 180. 

19 



2i8 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

Pensacola, abound with unfavorable criticisms upon the 
place and its society. One is often forced to observe how 
apt persons composing such limited circles are to be - 
engrossed with the petty details of their narrow limits, - 
to exaggerate their inconveniences, magnify their own- 
troubles, and gossip freely of their neighbors ; imputing - 
sometimes the grossest derelictions in morals upon mere _ 
conjecture, and illustrating in a thousand ways the weak- 
nesses and infirmities of poor human nature. The history - 
of every colony is replete with discussions, backbitings, 
jealousies, conspiracies, harsh oppression, unjustifiable re- 
venge, and often bloody retribution. Exiled far from their ~ 
homes, and requiring every alleviation of sympathy and 
mutual aid; the colonists oftentimes appeared to exhibit the 
spirit of the Evil One, increasing and embittering the un- 
avoidable hardships and privations of their position. 

•Many writers have labored to frame a theoretical form - 
of government which should be adapted to human society, - 
wherein all the acknowledged evils and misfortunes of exist- - 
ing social organization should be remedied, the evil tenden- 
cies of human nature corrected, its good impulses excited, ■ 
all that is venerable, good, and pure respected, virtue oc- 
cupying high places, and the law of justice universally 
acknowledged. While these theorists might well say to ~ 
their objectors that no sufficient test could be applied in the ^ 
midst of old and organized societies, they would find it im- 
possible to deny that in the settlements of the New World, 
where the fairest field existed for the successful reformation 
of the abuses of old societies, these evils became intensi- 
fied, selfishness exhibiting itself as the main principle of 
action, and these new settlements were, for the most part, 
the most wretchedly disagreeable, unsatisfying, and miser- 
able assemblages of people which could anywhere be 
found. Those who will carefully peruse the annals of our 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



219 



early colonial settlements will find abundant proof of these 
observations. 

Many grants of land were made in the province of 
West Florida in 1776, under the regulations established 
by the crown, and were mostly located along the banks of 
the rivers. 

An eminent naturalist, who visited Pensacola in the year 
1778, says there were at that time some hundreds of houses. 
The palace of Governor Chester was a large stone edifice, 
surmounted with a tower, which had been built by the 
Spaniards. The city was defended by a large fortress, the 
plan of which was a tetragon, having at each corner a 
salient angle, and a small round tower was elevated one 
story above the curtains, upon which were placed the 
smaller cannon. The fort was constructed of timber : 
there were contained within the walls the council-chamber, 
office of records, an arsenal, and magazine, with lodgings 
for the garrison.* There were in the city many merchants 
and professional gentlemen, who occupied well-built houses. 
A fort also existed on the point of Santa Rosa Island, 
which defended the entrance to the harbor. 

General Grant continued to fill the office of governor of 
East Florida from 1763 to 1771, and, by his wise and judi- 
cious administration of public affairs, acquired the respect 
and affection of his people, as well as the confidence of 
the home government. During this period the colony re- 
ceived a large accession of inhabitants of the best class 
from Carolina, among whom was Major Moultrie, after- 
wards lieutenant-governor of the province, and William 
Drayton, Esq., who became chief-justice. Several English 
noblemen, among whom were Lords Granville, Hillsbor- 
ough, Egmont, and Hawke, received large grants of land 

•5^ Bartram's Rep. Florida, vol. ii. p. 252, 



2 20 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

upon the condition of settlement and cultivation. Several 
gentlemen of fortune also procured land, upon the same con- 
ditions, among the most prominent of whom were Richard 
Oswald and Dennis Rolle. Mr. Oswald established a planta-- 
tion on the Halifax River, at a place still known as Mount 
Oswald. Dennis Rolle, Esq., father of Lord Rolle, ob- 
tained from the British government a grant of forty thou- 
sand acres, and embarked in 1765 from England with 
one hundred families, intending to settle in Middle Florida 
near St. Mark's; but, being driven by stress of weather to 
enter the St. John's River, and wearied with having been- 
a long time on shipboard, he decided to remain, and 
selected a location on the east side of the St. John's River, 
two or three miles above Pilatka, which he named Char- 
lottia,* and made his settlement between this point and 
Dunn's Lake. After incurring very great expense, the set-, 
tlement, owing to the bad management of his agents, was 
abandoned, and most of the settlers removed to Carolina. f 
Traces of the old settlement are still to be seen. 

There was a large plantation opened about the same 
time on the upper St. John's, known as Beresford, and 
still bearing that name, and another at Spring Garden. A 
colony of Scotch Highlanders made a settlement on the 
St. John's River, and afterwards removed to Georgia. .The 
cultivation of sugar-cane was begun on the Halifax River, 
and, under the fostering care of the British government, 
would, in the course of a few years, have become a very 
important staple of Florida. s, 

The colony established by Dr. TurnbuU at New Smyrna 
in 1767 remained until 1776. Having put the land in 
a proper condition for cultivation, they turned their atten- 

* This place is still known as Rollstown. 
•j- Bartram, vol. i 177. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 221 

tion to the production of indigo, which then bore a high 
price in the London market. The net vahie of their first - 
crop reached the sum of three thousand dollars ; but diffi- 
culties soon arose between the proprietors and the colonists, 
the latter alleging that the former had not complied with 
their agreements, and that they were restricted in the quan- 
tity of provisions allowed them, and otherwise treated with 
great tyranny and injustice. 

In 1769 an insurrection had taken place among them, in 
consequence of the infliction of severe punishments upon 
some of their number. The insurrection was put down, 
and the leaders brought to St. Augustine for trial : five of 
the number were convicted and sentenced to death, two 
of whom were pardoned by the governor, and a third was 
released upon the condition of his becoming the execu- 
tioner of the remaining two. 

The Smyrna colony upon its establishment consisted of , 
fourteen hundred persons, but in nine years their numbers ^^ 
had become reduced, by sickness, to about six hundred. 
In the year 1776, two of their number came to St. Augus- 
tine, and placed before the attorney-general, Mr. Yonge, 
a statement of their wrongs and grievances, with the view 
of finding some means by which they might be relieved 
from their indentures, and from the thraldom in which 
they were held by the proprietors. 

The statement of the cruelties practiced upon these col- 
onists, it is presumable^ is greatly exaggerated, as it does 
not seem probable that a course so opposed to the dictates 
of humanity, and not less so to those of self-interest, 
should have been pursued. 

Proceedings were instituted in the civil tribunals at St. 
Augustine, which resulted in a decree requiring the inden- 
tures to be cancelled and the colonists released from their 
engagements to the proprietors. Liberal offers were now 

19* 



:^^- 



• v 

S^'^a HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

made to retain them as freeholders, and to continue the 
cultivation of their lands ; but the colonists had suffered so 
greatly from sickness and trouble that they were unwilling 
to remain. The entire number removed to St. Augustine, 
where they received allotments of land in the northern part 
of the city, which are occupied by their descendants at the 
present day. 

Of the character of Dr. Turnbull we have little knowl- 
edge, except the prejudicial inferences to be derived from 
this transaction. He was a Scotchman, and undoubtedly 
strict and exacting in business matters. His position in 
the province appears to have been highly respectable, as he 
was one of the privy council, and possessed great weight 
in the management of the affairs of the province, and it 
was expected that he would be appointed governor to suc- 
ceed Governor Grant in 1771. The colony which he es- 
tablished at New Smyrna must have proved almost a total 
loss to him, as it was abandoned before it could have 
reached the point of success when it would have proved re- 
munerative. The location, although a highly favorable 
one, has never been reoccupied to the same extent ; but it 
is not unlikely that at some future day the lands first settled 
by the Greek colonists will be the centre of a highly culti- 
vated and wealthy community. 
X^ Governor Grant retired from office in 1771, and was 

succeeded by Lieutenant-Governor Moultrie, who had ac- 
quired some reputation in the Cherokee war under Colonel 
Montgomery. Governor Moultrie was a brother of Gen- 
eral Moultrie, a conspicuous officer of the American 
,army in the Revolutionary War. The chief-justice of the 
province, William Drayton, a gentleman of high social 
position and much political inffiience, was unwilling to 
yield to Major Moultrie the deference which he claimed in 
his new position, and these gentlemen were soon at variance 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA, 223 

in respect to all public measures, and the chief- justice, 
having taken means to thwart the lieutenant-governor in 
his official acts, was suspended from his office by Governor 
Moultrie. Mr. Drayton was charged with being friendly 
to the revolutionary party in the American colonies, and 
his appeal to the English ministry for reinstatement to his 
office was unsuccessful. He retired from East Florida, and, - 
after remaining some time in England, went to South Caro- 
lina, where he bore a conspicuous part in the struggle for" 
American independence.* One of the assistant judges was 
appointed by Governor Moultrie to the place of chief-jus- 
tice, but, being suspected of republican principles, his ap- 
pointment was not confirmed, and a new appointee was 
sent to fill the place. 

In 1774, Governor Tonyn came out from England to 
assume the government of East Florida. Upon his arrival, 
he issued a proclamation to the loyalists of the. colonies \y 
of Georgia, South Carolina, etc., inviting them to remove to 
Florida, and promising them the protection and patronage 
of the government. A considerable number availed them- 
selves of his invitation, and settled upon plantations in the 
neighborhood of St. Augustine. 

The transfer of Florida from Spain to Great Britain was 
too recent, and was too great and favorable a change from 
its former condition, to allow of the growth of the feeling 
of disaffection which pervaded the other North American 
colonies. There were, however, some who sympathized 
very strongly with the movements of the republicans, and 
shared their opinions. Upon the news of the adoption by 
Congress of the Declaration of Independence being re- 
ceived at St. Augustine, the effigies of John Adams and John 
Hancock were burnt upon the public square at St. Augus- 
tine, on the spot where the monument now stands. 

* Forbes's Sketches of Florida, p. 22. 



2 24 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

A British vessel, called the Betsey, commanded by Cap- 
tain Lofthouse, sent from London, and having on board 
one hundred and eleven barrels of powder, was captured 
off St. Augustine bar, in August, 1775, by a privateer from 
Carolina, which ran alongside and discharged her in sight 
of the ships of war in the harbor and in plain view of the 
garrison. This capture was very mortifying to the gov-- 
ernor, and, in order to avenge the insult, he immediately, 
ordered a predatory expedition to advance upon the fron- 
tier settlements of Georgia. The expedition was placed 
under the command of Colonel Brown, who afterwards- 
became very prominent as a partisan leader, and was one" 
of the most successful and enterprising officers in the Brit-- 
ish service. His force was made up of Indians and irreg- 
ular troops. Privateers were also fitted out, and a fort- 
erected at the mouth of the St. Mary's for their protection 
and that of their prizes. 

East Florida, with the inauguration of active hostilities 
between Great Britain and her colonies, began to assume 
more importance as a rendezvous and base of operations. 
The governor called out the militia, in the summerof 1776, 
to join the royal troops in resisting what he called "the 
perfidious insinuations" of the neighboring colonists, and 
repelling their future incursions into the province, and to 
prevent any more infatuated men from joining their 
''traitorous neighbors." It would appear from this that 
some persons from Florida had joined the Americans. 

President Gwinnett, of Georgia, issued a counter-proc- 
lamation, offering protection to the persons and property 
of those "who would join the American standard in oppo- 
sition to tyranny."* 

In addition to the rangers, who were considered as reg- 

* Forbes's Sketches, p. 26. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 225 

iilarly enrolled, there was a volunteer militia, organized 
and officered under their own choice when called out. 
Many loyalists now began to arrive from Georgia and Caro- 
lina, who increased the effective strength of the province, 
as well as introduced an element of additional bitterness 
towards the rebel colonies. 

An invasion of Florida was now contemplated by the 
patriots in Georgia, and forces for that purpose directed to 
assemble in Burke County, to march from thence, under 
command of the governor, against Florida ; but the pur- 
pose was not carried into effect. The province was at the- 
same time threatened by the Indian tribes friendly to the- 
American cause. 

Captain Elphinstone, of the navy, and Captain Mon-- 
crief, a distinguished officer of the engineer corps, having 
arrived at St. Augustine with a promise of reinforcements, 
the fears of an invasion were allayed, and an expedition 
against Georgia was fitted out and placed under the com- 
mand of Colonel Fuser, of the 60th Regiment, who, with 
a force of five hundred infantry and the aid of several 
pieces of artillery, made an attack on Sunbury. He failed 
in the object of his expedition, and fell back into Florida 
to await promised reinforcements. 

During the year 1778 nearly seven thousand loyalists 
from Carolina and Georgia moved into Florida. Among 
those who came in 1777 was one Captain Roderick Mcin- 
tosh, better known as Rory Mcintosh, who had been with 
the company of Highlanders who were surprised at Fort 
Moosa in 1740, in the Oglethorpe expedition. At the time 
he went to Florida he was sixty-five years of age, about six 
feet in stature, strongly built, with white frizzled bushy hair, 
fresh complexion, and large muscular limbs. In 1763 he 
carried a drove of cattle to St. Augustine, and received 
his pay in Spanish dollars, which, putting in a canvas bag, 



2 26 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

he carried on his horse. Some miles from home the bag 
gave way, and part of the money fell out. ^Paying no at- 
tention to what had fallen, he fastened the sack and went 
on, and some years afterwards, being in want of money, 
he returned to the spot and picked up the amount he re- 
quired. He had a favorite dog, which he had taught to 
track his back scent. On one occasion he laid a wager 
that he would hide a doubloon and send his dog back three 
miles to fetch it. The dog returned without it. '' Treason !" 
cried Rory, and returned to the log under which he had^ 
hidden the gold, but found it had been removed.- Seeing 
a man in a field some distance off, he galloped up to him, - 
and, drawing a dirk, threatened to kill him unless he pro- 
duced the piece of gold, which the man surrendered. 
Rory threw it back to him. ''Take it, vile caitiff!" said 
he ; '' it was not the pelf, but the honor of my dog, I cared 
for!"* 

Governor Houston of Georgia, in conjunction with Gen- 
eral Howe, projected an attack upon St. Augustine in the 
spring of 1778; but, owing to sickness among the troops, 
disagreements among the commanders, and deficiency of 
supplies, the expedition was not carried out. To meet this ■ 
attack, a force was organized in Florida, to proceed from 
St. Augustine, under command of Captain Mowbray, of 
the navy, and Major Graham, of the i6th Regiment, with 
one hundred and forty men, and Major Prevost, of the 
60th, the whole force being under the command of Colonel 
Fuser, of the 60th Regiment. From the same causes 
which paralyzed the movements of the American expedi- 
tion, — the disagreement and jealousies of the commanders 
of different arms of the service, — the English forces did not 
cross the St. John's, but contented themselves with erecting 

* White's (jeorgia. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 227 

a fortification at St. John's Bluff. Colonel Fiiser also ordered 
out all the militia of the province to resist the anticipated 
invasion. 

Further alarm was created in the province, at this junc- 
ture, by the sudden death of Captain Skinner, Deputy 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs, an active and energetic 
officer. The expedition of the Americans against St. 
Augustine, if it had been carried out, would probably 
have met with entire success, as the English forces were 
then weak in numbers and divided in counsels. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

English Occupation, continued — Capture of Pensacola by De Galvez — 
Capture of New Providence by the English — Retransfer of Florida 
to Spain. 

1779—1784. 

Reinforcements having been received at St. Augustine, 
Major Prevost, who had been promoted to the rank of 
general, leaving the militia to guard the province, advanced, 
in December, 1778, to join the forces on their way from 
New York to attack Savannah. Rory Mcintosh had at- 
tached himself to the 60th Regiment, which was engaged 
in this expedition. On their way the English forces laid 
siege to the fort at Sunbury, commanded by Captain, after- 
wards General, Mcintosh, the same officer who had been 
taken "^prisoner by the Spaniards in 1740 at Fort Moosa. 
Rory Mcintosh was in the British lines, in front of the 
fort at Sunbury. Early one morning, when he had imbibed 
rather too freely of mountain -dew, he insisted on sallying 
out to demand the surrender of the fort. His friends 
could not restrain him, and out he marched, claymore in 
hand, followed by his slave Tom, and, approaching the fort, '^ 
roared put, ''Surrender, you miscreants! how dare you \ 
presume tr resist his Majesty's arms?" Captain Mcintosh, 
the commander of the fort, knew him, and, seeing his con- x 
dition, forbade anyone firing on him, and, throwing open ~ 
the gate, said, ''Walk in, Mr. Mcintosh, and take posses- - 
sion." "No," said Rory, "I will not trust myself among 
such vermin; but I order you to surrender." Some one 
( 22S ) 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA, 229 

firec" a rifle at him, the ball from which passed through 
his face immediately below his eyes. Stumbling, he fell, 
but recovered, and retreated backwards, flourishing his 
sword. Several shots followed, and Tom called out, 
"Run, massa! dey kill you." ''Run, poor slave," says 
Rory; ''thou mayest run, but I am of a race that never 
runs,"* and succeeded in getting back safely into the 
lines, t 

The attack upon the fort at Sunbury and Savannah, 
under General Prevost, proved successful, and that officer's 
gallant defence of Savannah against the combined attack 
of the forces of D'Estaing and Lincoln, in 1779, added 
very greatly to his reputation. 

Don Bernardo de Galvez, a young and enterprising Span- 
ish general, had been placed in command of the Spanish 
possessions west of the Mississippi, and of New Orleans 
and its dependencies. Upon the breaking out of hostili- 
ties between England and Spain, in September, 1779, he 
invested the English fort at Baton Rouge, which was within 
the then limits of West Florida. Lieutenant-Colonel 
Dickson, who was in command, found himself ^unable to 
resist the forces brought against him, and surrendered to 
De Galvez. 

After Charleston had fallen into the hands of the British 
forces, the general in command at that place, in order to 
remove from Carolina those whom he supposed to have 
been the principal promoters of the Revolutionary cause, 
caused some forty gentlemen, of high standing, to be 

* White's Ga. Hist. Coll., p. 471. ^' 

f When at St. Augustine, upon one occasion, Rory was introduced 
to a Scotch gentleman of the name of Morrison. Rory addressed him 
in Gaelic Mr. Morrison regretted his ignorance of that language. " I 
pity you," said Rory ; " but you may be an honest man, for all that." 
— White's Ga. Hist. Co 11.,-^. 470. 

20 



230 HISTORY OF FLORIDA, 

transferred, in August, 1780, to St. Augustine, and at a 
later period twenty-one others were forwarded to the same 
point. 

The following list comprises the names of these distin- 
guished prisoners of state: John Budd, Edward Blake, 
Joseph Bee, Richard Beresford, John Berwick, D. Bor- 
deaux, Robert Cochrane, Benjamin Cudworth, H. V. 
Crouch, J. S. Cripps, Edward Darrell, Daniel Dessaussure, 
John Edwards, George Flagg, Thomas Ferguson, General 
A. C. Gadsden, Wm. Hazel Gibbs, Thomas Grinball, 
William Hall, Thomas Hall, George A. Hall, Isaac Holmes, 
Thomas Heyward, Jr., Richard Hutson, Noble Wimberley 
Jones, William Johnstone, William Lee, Richard Lushing- 
ton, William Logan, Rev. John Lewis, William Massey, 
Alexander Moultrie, Arthur Middleton, Edward Mc- 
Cready, John Mouatt, Edward North, John Neufville, Jo- 
seph Parker, Christopher Peters, Benjamin Postell, Samuel 
iPrioleau, John Ernest Poyas, Edward Rutledge, Hugh 
Rutledge, John Sansom, Thomas Savage, Josiah Smith, 
Thomas Singleton, James Hampden Thompson, John Todd, 
Peter Timothy, Anthony Toomer, Edward Weyman, Ben- 
jamin Waller, Morton Wilkinson, and James Wakefield. 
Subsequently, General Rutherford and Colonel Isaacs, of 
North Carolina, were added to their number. These gen- 
tlemen were taken early in the morning from their beds, 
and placed on the vessels, in violation of the paroles which 
had been granted to them.* Upon their arrival at St. 
Augustine, upon giving new paroles, they were allowed the 
freedom of the city. General Gadsden refused to accept 
a parole, and, with a sturdy independence, bore a close 
confinement in the castle for forty-two weeks, rather than 
give a second parole to a power which had violated the 

* Ramsay's Hist, of S. C, vol. i. pp. 370-373. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 231 

engagements contained in the first. These prisoners of 
state were officially treated with great indignities at St. 
Augustine, and were annoyed by being informed of several 
decisive battles, which were represented as having destroyed 
all chance of success by the rebels, and told to expect the 
fate of vanquished rebels; they were also told, from high 
authority, that the blood of the brave but unfortunate 
Andre would be required at their hands, and were cut off 
from all intelligence of their friends. The English gov- 
ernor, Patrick Tonyn, in an official letter to Lord St. Ger- 
main, says that ''to prevent" these rebel prisoners "from 
poisoning the minds of the people, and for their former 
conduct, they are treated with great contempt, and to have 
any friendly intercourse with them is considered as a mark 
of disrespect to his Majesty and displeasing to me." This 
conduct, it is said, tended to increase the number of the 
disaffected rather than to excite the inhabitants to acts of 
aggression against them. These prisoners remained at St. 
Augustine nearly a year, when they were sent to Philadel- 
phia, to be exchanged at the general exchange of prisoners 
in the year 1781. 

An order was issued in 1780, by Sir Guy Carleton, direct- 
ing the entire evacuation of the province of East Florida, 
but, remonstrances having been forwarded, the order was 
countermanded.* 

The letters-patent of the king, in 1763, upon the occu- 
pation of Florida, had provided that the governors of the 
colonies, so soon as the state of the country would admit, 
should summon General Assemblies. This, however, had 
never been carried into effect in Florida during the seven- 
teen years of British occupation, the governors having 
availed themselves of the discretionary power placed in 

* Forbes' s Florida, p. 50. 



232 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



their hands as to the period of calling such Assemblies, and 
being quite willing to withhold as long as possible a par- 
tition of power. In 1780, the state of public opinion in 
the province forced Governor Tonyn, apparently a weak- 
minded and conceited individual, to call a General Assem- 
bly, which assembled in December, 1780. 

This step was taken very reluctantly by the governor. 
In a dispatch to the British Secretary of State, he says, 
"I have, my lord, maturely weighed the expediency, neces- 
sity, advantages and disadvantages, benefits and danger, 
of convoking a House of Representatives, and nothing but 
the necessity of it (to remove deep-rooted prejudices) for 
the benefit of this province could have induced me to re- 
quest instructions from your lordship relative thereto, how 
to proceed further on this point ; but these great objects 
must actuate my conduct, and determine me to take this 
arduous and dangerous step. I perceive the cry for a pro- 
vincial legislature to remedy local inconveniences is as 
loud as ever, and suggestions are thrown out, that without 
it people's property is not secure, and that they must live 
in a country where they can enjoy to their utmost extent 
the advantages of the British Constitution and laws formed 
with their consent. But mention the expediency, pro- 
priety, reasonableness, justice, and gratitude of imposing 
taxes for the expenses of government, they are all silent, 
or so exceedingly poor as not to be able to pay the least 
farthing."* 

In a dispatch of January, 1781, the governor informs 
the Secretary of State that the first General Assembly of 
the province had met, and that the freeholders had elected 
the most substantial, sensible, and best-affected persons in 
the province as their representatives. The business was 

* Foibes's Sketches, p. 35. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 233 

transacted with moderation and zeal, and the governor 
seems to have been relieved of the fear of revolutionary- 
tendencies, very naturally suggested by the example of the 
neighboring American colonial assemblies. If there were 
any in the Provincial Legislature of Florida who had sym- 
pathies with the American cause, they must have been too 
few in number to make any demonstration. The Assembly 
appears to have confined itself to the enactment of a few 
laws of local importance, and the organization of a militia 
force. 

The governor made an address to the two Houses at the 
opening of the session, in which he congratulates them 
that during his administration of the government the 
province had arrived at such a state of affluence and im- 
portance as to enable him with propriety to fulfill his Ma- 
jesty's most gracious engagements in his Royal Proclama- 
tion of the 7th of October, 1763, by establishing a Provincial 
Legislature, for the purpose of making constitutions, ordain- 
ing laws, statutes, and ordinances, as near as may be agree- 
able to the laws of England, under such regulations and 
restrictions as are used in other colonies, for the public 
welfare and good government of the province and its inhab- 
itants. ''Of late," he says, ''the increase of property from 
your success in commerce and planting has been consider- 
able, and the industry and the judgment of a few may evince 
to Great Britain that ample returns in # produce may be 
made for money laid out in raising a produce equally bene- 
ficial to the planter and mother-country, in one of the 
most healthy and fertile climates upon earth."* 

The condition of the province at this period appears to 
have been prosperous, and, by the influx of a hardy race 
of planters from Georgia and Carolina, experienced in 



* Forbes's vSketches, p. 47. 
20* 



234 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

farming and inured to the difficulties and obstacles attend- 
ing new settlements, a new impetus had been given, and 
the province had attained a position which promised to 
make it, aided by the fostering power of the home govern- 
ment, quite as prosperous as the other colonies. The com- 
merce of the colony had steadily increased, the agricultu- 
ral productions, stimulated by the liberal bounties offered 
upon indigo, rice, and naval stores, had been constantly 
growing larger, and nothing seemed now to forbid the 
hope that Florida would become one of the most product- 
ive and valuable of the English transatlantic possessions. 
The climate, especially upon the coast, had proved emi- 
nently favorable to health, and the variety and value of its 
natural productions gave promise of a bountiful reward to 
industry and labor. All who had explored Florida gave 
animated accounts of the beauty of its forests, lakes, and 
rivers, the wonderful growth of vegetation along its streams, 
and its adaptation to all the productions of the tropics. 
Among the most valuable articles which could be profitably 
cultivated were enumerated sugar-cane, cotton, rice, indigo, 
oranges, lemons, figs, grapes, bananas, pineapples, etc., 
while the forests abounded in timber of the best descrip- 
tion, and the waters teemed with fish, oysters, and turtles. 
It is hardly to be doubted that had Florida remained a 
British colony it would at this time have equaled any of 
the seaboard States of the South in population. One can 
even now hardly penetrate a swamp or hammock along the 
Atlantic coast of Florida without finding distinct traces of 
the English cultivation and remains of improvements made 
by them. 

As an evidence of the healthiness of the country, the 
important fact may be referred to that the 9th British Regi- 
ment remained in St. Augustine eighteen months without 
losing a single man by sickness j and it was also observed 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



235 



that a detachment of artillery which arrived from the 
West Indies with a great deal of sickness soon recruited, 
and left no traces of the contagious disease from which 
it had suffered. During the whole period of the British 
occupation there were but ten medical men in East Florida. 
Mr. Rolle, under date of September i, 1766, indicates the 
favorable impression made upon him by saying, ''Every- 
thing in nature seems to correspond towards the cultivation 
of the productions of the whole world, in some part or 
other of this happy province, — the most precious jewel of 
his Majesty's American dominions." 

The exports of the province of East Florida amounted 
in 1768 to the sum of £14,078; in 1778 they had increased 
to £48,236; in 1 781 they were £30,715. 

During the year 1770 there were fifty schooners entered 
the port of St. Augustine coastwise, besides several square- 
rigged vessels in the trade to London and Liverpool. In 
1 771, five vessels arrived at St. Augustine from London, 
seven from New York, and eleven from Charleston ; and 
there were imported into the province about one thousand 
negroes, of whom one hundred and nineteen were directly 
from Africa. 

The Florida indigo brought the highest price of any sold 
in the London market. Forty thousand pounds were ex- 
ported in 1772. During the year 1779, forty thousand 
barrels of naval stores were shipped, and an increase in the 
quantity was anticipated the following year. The British 
government allowed the very liberal bounty of ten shillings 
per barrel upon turpentine shipped from Florida ; its value 
at St. Augustine was thirty-six shillings per barrel. 

A large trade was also carried on in peltries by several 
Indian trading-houses, among the more important of whom 
were Panton & Leslie, Spaulding, Kelsull, McLatchie, 
Swanson, and McGillivray & Strother; and in West 



236 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

Florida by Panton, Leslie & Forbes, and Matthew & 
Morgan. 

The Spanish governor of Louisiana, Don Bernardo de 
Galvez, who had captured in 1779 ^^ English post at 
Baton Rouge, made an investment of Pensacola with a 
vastly superior force, in March, 1781, assisted by a naval 
force under Admiral Solana. The place was strongly 
fortified, and held by a garrison of one thousand men, 
under the command of General Campbell, The English 
occupied two strong forts, called St. Michel and St. Ber- 
nard, which were bravely defended for a long time against 
the heavy bombardment of the troops of Galvez and the 
ships of Solana. The Spaniards were able to make no im- 
pression on the works until an unlucky accident occurred, 
by a chance shell entering the magazine of Fort St. Michel 
at the moment it was opened to take out ammunition. This 
explosion carried away the principal redoubt, and enabled 
the Spanish troops to possess themselves of Fort St. Michel. 
Preparations were then made to avail themselves of the 
position, in order to carry Fort St. Bernard by assault. 
Being satisfied that St. Bernard was now untenable. Gen- 
eral Campbell capitulated on honorable terms, being al- 
lowed to withdraw with his whole force, under an engage- 
ment not to serve against Spain until exchanged. 

In consequence of the necessity of employing all their 
disposable forces in the military operations with the Amer- 
ican colonists, the English commanders in America were 
unable to send reinforcements to General Campbell, and 
much mortification was experienced at the capture of so 
important and well-fortified a post. The same causes 
which prevented the sending of reinforcements made any 
attempts to recapture it out of the question at that time, 
and from Pensacola westward to the Mississippi the coun- 
try and all the military posts remained in the possession of 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 237 

Spain until the treaty of 1781, when they were formally 
re-ceded to her by Great Britain. 

The mortification which the British government expe- 
rienced in the loss of West Florida, Pensacola, Mobile, 
and Baton Rouge was in part compensated by the capture 
of the Bahama Islands. An expedition fitted out by 
Colonel Devereux, who had come to Florida from Caro- 
lina, and had a high reputation for spirit and gallantry, 
sailed from St. Augustine, in 1783, in two private armed 
brigs, for the purpose of attacking New Providence. The 
brigs carried twelve guns each, and the forces on board 
consisted of some fifty adventurers, who were desperate 
and reckless enough to engage in an expedition to capture 
strong fortifications well garrisoned. The vessels stopped 
at Eleuthera, where they took on board a number of negro 
recruits. The vessels arrived off the point on which 
Nassau is built, at night, and the men were landed without 
discovery on the east side of Fort Montague, which stands 
at the entrance of the harbor. The garrison, resting in 
fancied security, exhibited so little vigilance that the 
English troops reached the ramparts without alarming the 
Spaniards. Colonel Devereux rushed upon and surprised 
the sentinel before he could challenge or give an alarm, 
and without difficulty disarmed the sleeping garrison and 
obtained possession of the fort. 

The colonel then proceeded to the summit of a ridge oppo- 
site the governor's house. In order to deceive the inhabitants 
in reference to their numbers, he arranged a show of boats 
passing to the fort, crowded with men, and returning appa- 
rently empty to the vessels, with their occupants concealed 
by lying down. Men of straw were posted as sentinels on 
the heights, and some of the party were dressed up and 
painted as Indians to strike the inhabitants with terror. 
One or two galleys in the harbor were taken possession of 



238 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

with an appearance of being sustained by a considerable 
force. Colonel Devereux, with a pompous description of 
his force, summoned the governor to surrender. The gov- 
ernor hesitating in complying with his demand, he directed 
a shot to be fired over the governor's house, which pro- 
duced an immediate capitulation. The Spanish troops, as 
may well be imagined, were astonished and chagrined 
when they discovered the number and character of the 
troops to whom they had surrendered, and by what a mis- 
erable force they had been deceived.* The consequences 
of the expedition were very important, as these valuable 
islands have ever since remained a part of the British 
Empire. 

At a period when the inhabitants of Florida were flatter- 
ing themselves with the prospect of a long career of peace- 
ful prosperity, and when they had attained the fullest meas- 
ure of constitutional liberty, they found themselves sud- 
denly made the victims of one of those political set-offs, or 
equivalents, by which diplomats endeavor to make amends 
for the ill success of cherished plans, and by a new ar- 
rangement of political divisions, the acquisition of new 
territory, and the transfer of equivalents, shield them- 
selves from the acknowledgment of failure. At the close 
of the American Revolution, the ministry of Great Bri- 
tain found themselves compelled to acknowledge the inde- 
pendence of the colonies. They were also desirous of 
closing a fruitless war with Spain. In order to effect 
this, they assumed that tke provinces of East and West 
Florida, extending from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, 
and the island of Minorca, were of little value to the 
crown, as all the colonies north of Florida had passed fro.ui 
under the British flag, and it was proposed to make a re- 

* Forbes's Sketches, p. 53. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



239 



cession of these provinces, and also of Minorca, for the 
comparatively insignificant Bahama Islands, important only 
as a naval station. 

Almost the first intelligence the unfortunate people of 
Florida received of the coming disaster was the promul- 
gation of a treaty, entered into on the 3d September, 1783, 
ceding East and West Florida. In this treaty the religious 
toleration which was exacted by the King of Spain for his 
Roman Catholic subjects from his Britannic Majesty in 
1763 was not reciprocated, but it was simply provided that 
the English inhabitants might have eighteen months within 
which to remove with their property, or to dispose of their 
effects. The evacuation was to take place within three 
months after the ratification of the treaty. 

The unfortunate inhabitants of Florida, who were thus 
summarily disposed of, were placed in a most miserable 
predicament. For years the British government had been 
offering to its subjects every inducement to establish them- 
selves in the province ; they had come there relying im- 
plicitly upon the good faith of the government, and had 
undergone all the hardships incident to the settlement of a 
new country. Many of them had left the adjoining col- 
onies in consequence of their adherence to the royal 
cause, and could not return. Their property consisted 
largely in slaves and lands, and they had no point of refuge 
except the unwelcome rocks and barren islets of New 
Providence and the Bahamas. 

In June, 1784, Governor Zespedez, the new Spanish gov- 
ernor, arrived at St. Augustine with a few troops, to take 
possession of Florida in the name of the King of Spain. 
The British government had sent to the harbor of Amelia, 
at the mouth of the St. Mary's River, a fleet of transports 
to remove the inhabitants of East Florida. Some returned 
to England, some went to Nova Scotia, some to the Baha- 



240 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

mas. A large number of others carried their negroes to 
Jamaica, where they were received with much jealoi sy, 
and a system of government and regulations adopted in 
reference to them, so injurious that they made application 
to the home government for relief, which was tar ":ly 
granted, but not until many had sunk under the pressure 
of difficulties and annoyances. Afterwards, some of the 
inhabitants of Florida preferred returning to the Amen^an 
States and trusting to the generosity of their former fellow- 
citizens to obliterate past differences. Many of those who 
thus returned to Carolina had emigrated to Florida before 
the war, and had not therefore to encounter the odium 
attaching to the tories and refugee loyalists who had taken 
up arms on the British side. These parties carried back 
with them to South Carolina one thousand three hundred 
and seventy-two negroes. Of the number carried to 
Jamaica and the Bahamas we have no account, but it must 
have been very considerable. 

The time for removal was extended four months by the 
Spanish crown, and in April, 1786, a further order v^iis 
passed in consequence of representations made by "-he jov- 
ernor of Louisiana, allowing the former inhabitants 10 re- 
main on condition that they should take a solemn oath of 
fidelity and obedience to his Catholic Majesty ; that they 
should not change their residence or go away without leave 
of the government ; that ''at Natchez, and other places of 
both Floridas, where it is convenient, parishes oi Irish 
clergy be established, in order to bring said colonists and 
their children and families to our religion with the sweet- 
ness and mildness which it advises."* 

St. Augustine was the only town of any importance in 
East Florida at the period of the evacuation by the Spaniards, 

■^" Vignoles, Observations on Florida, p. 196. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 241 

in 1763. It contained tliree thousand inhabitants at that 
tinikj. All the gardens in the town were well stocked with 
fruit-trees, such as figs, guavas, plantains, pomegranates, 
lemons, limes, citrons, shaddocks, bergamot, China and 
Se' 'He oranges. The city was three-quarters of a mile in 
length, and about a quarter of a mile in width. It had four 
churches, ornamentally built of stone in the Spanish style. 
One was pulled down during the English occupation, the 
steeple of which was preserved as an ornament to the town. 
One of the churches was attached to the Convent of St. 
Francis. The houses were all built of stone, their entrances 
shaded by piazzas supported by Tuscan pillars or pilasters. 
Upon the east the windows projected eighteen inches into 
the street, and were very wide and proportionably high. 
On the west side the windows were commonly very small, 
and there was no opening of any kind to the north, upon 
which side they had double walls, six or eight feet asunder, 
forming a kind of hall for cellars and pantries. Before 
most of the entrances, which were from an inner court, 
V, _re' arbors of vines, producing fine and luscious grapes. 
NoJ/^ of the houses were supplied with chimneys or fire- 
place's. For the purposes of warmth, stone urns were filled 
with coals, and placed in the rooms in the afternoon to 
moderate the temperature in weather sufficiently cool to 
require it. 

The governor's residence had piazzas on both sides, also 
a belvedere and grand portico, decorated with Doric pil- 
lars and entablatures. At the north end of the town was 
the castle, a casemated fort, with four bastions, a ravelin 
counterscarp, and a glacis, built with quarried stone, and 
constructed according to the system of Vauban. Half a 
mile to the north was a line, with a broad ditch and bas- 
tions, running from the Sebastian Creek to St. Mark's 
River ; a mile from that was another fortified line, with 

21 



242 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



some redoubts, forming a second line of communication 
between a staccata fort upon St. Sebastian River, and Fort 
Moosa, upon the St. Mark's River.* Within the first line, 
near the town, was a small settlement of Germans, who 
had a church of their own. Upon the St. Mark's River, 
within the second line, was also an Indian town, with a 
storte church built by the Indians themselves, and in very 
good taste. 

During the English occupation, large buildings were 
erected for barracks, of sufficient extent to quarter five 
regiments of troops. The brick of which they were built 
was brought from New York, although the island opposite 
the city afforded a much better building-material, in the 
coquina stone. The lower story only of the British bar- 
racks was built of brick, the upper story being of wood, 
These barracks stood at the southern extremity of the 
town, to the south of the present barracks, and the length 
and great extent of the buildings fronting on the bay added 
greatly to the appearance of the city as viewed from the 
harbor. 

The city, in English times, contained many gentlemen 
of distinction, among whom were Sir Charles Burdett, 
Chief-Justice Drayton, Rev. John Forbes, the Admiralty 
Judge, General James Grant, Lieut. -Governor Moultrie, 
William Stark, Esq., the historian. Rev. N. Frazer, Dr. 
Andrew Turnbull, Bernard Romans, Esq., civil engi- 
neer, James Moultrie, Esq., and William Bartram, the 
naturalist. 

Some few English families remained after the evacuation 
by the British in 1784, and the entire settlement of Greeks 

* These lines may be still distinctly traced. The churches spoken 
of, outside the city, as well as Forts Moosa and Staccata, have long 
since disappeared, but their sites are known. The outer line passed 
through the grounds formerly occupied by the writer. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 243 

and Minorcans, who had come up from Mosquito from Dr. 
Turnbull's colony. As they were all Roman Catholics, and 
were accustomed to a language resembling the Spanish, 
they were not affected to any great degree by the change 
of rulers. 

It is a sad thing for an entire people to be forced to give 
up their homes and seek an asylum in some foreign land ; 
and melancholy was the spectacle presented on all the 
routes leading to the harbor designated for the embarka- 
tion of the English inhabitants of Florida. Families sep- 
arating perhaps forever, long adieus between neighbors and 
friends who had together shared the privations and pleas- 
ures of the past, leaving behind them places endeared by 
the most sacred associations, and containing, perchance, 
the precious dust of the departed. Homes embowered 
among the orange-groves, and made pleasant by the fra- 
grant blossoms of the honeysuckle, the rose, and the acacia; 
a land where Nature had lavished her choicest beauties, 
and created a perpetual summer, — such was the land upon 
which the unfortunate residents of Florida were obliged to 
turn their backs forever. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Condition of the Province after its Recession to Spain — Notice of Mc- 
Gillivray — Operations of Bowles — Patriot Rebellion — Operations of 
United States Troops in Florida — Indian Hostilities, between the 
Americans and King Payne the Seminole. 

1784— 1813. 

Upon the reoccupation of Florida by the Spaniards, in 
1784, but few of its former inhabitants returned. Twenty 
years had scattered them through other lands, where they 
had made new homes, and new occupations and associa- 
tions had weakened or wholly destroyed their attachment 
to Florida. The few inhabitants left in St. Augustine felt 
their weakness and insecurity, and hardly ventured to go 
beyond the range of the guns of the castle. 

The fine estates upon the coast, and upon the St. John's 
River, left by the retiring English proprietors, remained 
unoccupied, a prey to that rapid decay which so soon re- 
claims to its native wildness the improvements and cul- 
tivation which it had been the labor of years to effect. 
The boldness of the Indians, in their intrusions upon 
the whites, created a feeling of insecurity, which was 
greatly increased when, a short time after the departure of 
the English, they destroyed Bella Vista, the beautiful 
country-seat of Governor Moultrie, seven miles from St. 
Augustine. Some attempt was made to induce settlement, 
by offers of lands,; but they were accompanied with such 
conditions that very few cared to avail themselves of 
them. Some of those who had left with the English, and 
(244) 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 245 

gone to the Bahama Islands, became disgusted with the 
poverty of the soil, from which they found it impossible to 
reap a subsistence, and, returning to Florida, made a set- 
tlement at New Smyrna. But the policy of the Spanish 
government, which seemed always averse to individual 
prosperity, soon forced them to abandon their settlement 
and seek homes in the States, where more liberal institu- 
tions encouraged industry, protected property, and hon- 
ored integrity. The Spanish authorities soon endeavored 
to enter into negotiations with the neighboring Indian 
tribes, upon whose friendship so much depended for the 
Spaniard. 

At this time the principal chief among the Creeks was 
Alexander McGillivray. This remarkable person was the 
son of a half-breed Creek woman and Lachlan McGilli- 
vray, a Scotchman who was engaged in the Indian trade. 
The son was carefully educated, and on his return to the 
nation acquired great influence from his superior intel- 
ligence, gained the confidence of the tribes, and was 
made their chief. During the Revolutionary War he at- 
tached himself to the royalists, and received the rank of 
colonel from the British government, and was an active 
and useful ally to them in their operations against the 
frontiers of Georgia. In 1784 he formed a treaty with 
the Spanish governor in behalf of the Creeks and Sem- 
inoles, and engaged to adhere to the government of Spain 
and prevent all white men from entering their country 
without a Spanish permit. The Spanish authorities gave 
him the rank and pay of a colonel in their service, and he 
was very useful to them in the control he exercised over 
the neighboring Indian tribes, whom he succeeded in 
preventing from attaching themselves to the American 
interest. 

About the year 1789, a bold attempt was made by a 



246 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

General William Augustus Bowles to dispossess Spain of 
Florida by a concerted and general attack of the Indian 
tribes upon the borders. This individual was a native of 
Maryland, and held a commission in the British army in 
the latter part of the Revolutionary War. He sailed with 
his regiment to Jamaica, and afterwards to Pensacola, 
where he was dismissed from the service. While he was at 
Pensacola, a party of Creeks visited the post for the pur- 
pose of receiving their annuities. Animated by a love of 
adventure, Bowles returned with them to their nation, 
where he learned the Indian language and married the 
daughter of an Indian chief. Gaining the confidence of 
the Indians, he was able to obtain the command of the 
party who went as allies to the English at the siege of 
Pensacola, and by his good conduct on that occasion he 
was restored to his former position by the English com- 
mander. After West Florida was ceded to Spain, in 1784, 
he went to New York, where he joined a company of play- 
actors, and subsequently went to the Bahamas. While 
there he followed the profession of comedian, and added 
to this the business of portrait-painting. The versatility 
of his talents, and his acquaintance with the Creek Indians 
and familiarity with their language, induced Lord Dunmore, 
the governor of the Bahamas, to appoint Bowles as an 
ageiit to establish a trading-house among the Creeks. His 
own ambition seems to have led him to hope that he might 
attain a much higher position, and perhaps be able to es- 
tablish an extensive empire in the southwest, under Eng- 
lish protection, in which he might fill a conspicuous and 
honorable place. 

He left New Providence with about sixty followers, and 
landed at Mosquito. From thence he crossed over to the 
St. John's River for the purpose of attacking an Indian 
trading-house, called Hamblys, near Lake George. The 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 247 

traders had been advised by friendly Indians of Bowles's 
intention, and the delay occasioned by his attempts to 
bring from his vessel several small iron cannon gave the 
traders time to prepare for him, and they had received fifty 
Spanish soldiers from St. Augustine. Bowles found them 
so well fortified that he was discouraged from making the 
proposed attack, and directed his steps towards Cuscowilla, 
an Indian town in Alachua, which stood near the present 
site of Micanopy, and was the chief town of the Seminoles 
under King Payne. 

Finding the Indians here unwilling to join him, his fol- 
lowers deserted him, and he fled to the Creeks. Here he 
married a daughter of Pennyman, an Indian chief, and was 
joined by a Spanish subject, one Daniel McGirth, who had 
been conspicuous in the border war waged by McGillivray 
against the Georgians during the Revolutionary War.* 
They induced the Creeks to believe that the goods con- 
tained in the various trading-houses were intended as 
presents for them, and were improperly withheld from them 

* Daniel McGirth was a native of South Carolina, and in the begin- 
ning of the American Revolution was a valuable partisan scout. While 
stationed at the Satilla River with the American troops, he was court- 
martialed for using disrespectful language to an officer who desired to 
dispossess him of a favorite mare, and he was sentenced to be whipped. 
This indignity was borne by him in silence, but he soon managed to 
escape, and became from that day one of the most vindictive, untiring, 
and revengeful enemies of the Georgians, upon whom he inflicted a 
vast amount of injury. After the war he remained in Florida, and 
was concerned with Bowles, and probably on this account was arrested 
by the Spanish government and thrown into the dungeon of the castle 
at St. Augustine, where he was confined for five years a close pris- 
oner. Subsequently, with his health totally destroyed by his long and 
cruel confinement, he returned to his wife in Sumter District, S. C. A 
small tributary that empties into the St. John's River, near Jackson- 
ville, bears his name. — Whitens Hist. Col., page 281. 



248 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

by the Indian traders. The Indians credited this story, 
and several of the chiefs agreed to assist attacking the 
houses and taking possession of the stores. They estab- 
lished their head-quarters at Miccosukie, a town in Middle 
Florida, and, fortunately for their purpose, a vessel arrived 
at Apalachee, with goods for Bowles, from New Providence. 
These he distributed among his followers, telling them that 
they were a part of the same goods the traders had in their 
possession. Having taught navigation to an Indian crew, 
he kept a vessel running from New Providence to Apa- 
lachee, until the traders, having determined to break up his 
party, prevailed upon the Seminoles to take Bowles pris- 
oner. McGirth, hearing of the approach of the Seminoles, 
informed Bowles in time for him to escape to the Oclockony 
River and hide himself. Nothing is said of the escape of 
McGirth, who, it is probable, on this occasion fell into the 
hands of the Spaniards, who had instigated the Seminoles 
to make the attack. 

The Creeks who were with Bowles and McGirth pro- 
fessed a willingness to return home, and entered into a 
treaty of peace; but after the Seminoles had dispersed 
they again joined Bowles, and aided him in the capture of 
a vessel laden with goods for the traders. Bowles was em- 
boldened by his success to make an attack upon St. Mark's, 
and, finding the garrison off their guard, he captured the 
fort, and for several weeks kept possession of it, until Gov- 
ernor O'Neil, coming down from Pensacola, drove him 
out, without making any effort to capture him or his Indian 
allies. Orders were afterwards sent out for his arrest, and, 
a large reward being offered for him, the Indians gave him 
up. He was sent in chains to Cuba and confined in Moro 
Castle, where he is said to have died. 

At one time his influence with the Creeks was so great 
that he destroyed their confidence in their great chief 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



249 



McGillivray, whom he represented to them as a traitor who 
had sold them to Spain and afterwards to the United 
States. This accusation was not without foundation, as 
McGillivray had entered into a treaty with Washington, by 
which he promised that after a certain date all of the com- 
merce of the Creek nation should pass through the ports 
of the United States. This gave great dissatisfaction to 
the Indians as Avell as to the Spaniards, who now began to 
distrust McGillivray. It was proved that while receiving 
thirty-five hundred dollars a year as agent of Spain, he was 
filling the same office under the United States government 
with a salary of twelve hundred, sometimes wearing the 
Spanish uniform, and at other times that of a brigadier- 
general in the American army. But there is no doubt that 
he was mainly inclined to the Spanish interest, as it does 
not appear that he ever carried out the provisions of the 
treaty with Washington. Carondelet, the Spanish Gov- 
ernor, endeavored to unite the four Indian nations under 
McGillivray, and secure their services in his effort to pre- 
vent the advance of American settlements on the coast, 
and also on the Mississippi. But the race of McGillivray 
was run. In 1793 he died, and was buried at Pensacola, 
with Masonic honors. 

By the treaty of 1 790, in which McGillivray had repre- 
sented the Creek Nation, the United States had set aside 
a previous treaty between General Twiggs and the Creeks, 
and agreed to a new boundary-line, less advantageous to 
Georgia. This gave great dissatisfaction to General Elijah 
Clarke, who had been a party to the treaty of General 
Twiggs, and one of the most active and useful officers in 
the Georgia service. He was greatly incensed, and de- 
termined to take possession of the territory so improperly 
surrendered.* He had no difficulty in finding adherents, 

* Stevens, Ga., p. 401, 



250 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



and, having established himself in the disputed territory, 
made several incursions into Florida, and drove in the 
Spanish outposts. It was supposed that he was acting in 
the interest of France ; but the French consul at Savannah 
denied the charge. Having set at defiance the authorities 
of Georgia, Clarke crossed the river Oconee, and erected a 
fort, whereupon an expedition was sent out against him, 
and he was forced to abandon the enterprise. 

Some ten years after the change of flags, General John 
Mcintosh removed to Florida with his accomplished and 
devoted wife, and settled upon the St. John's River, at a 
plantation which he called Bellevue. He had been a 
distinguished officer in the War of the American Revolu- 
tion, and carried with him to Florida several families de- 
voted to his interests. The Spanish governor, Quesada, 
jealous and suspicious of the consideration with which 
General Mcintosh was treated, affected to believe that he 
was engaged in projects inimical to the interests of Spain. 
He pretended to be on friendly terms with the general, 
but upon one occasion, when he was on a visit to St. Au- 
gustine, Quesada had him arrested and thrown into the 
castle. A detachment of soldiers was then sent out to the 
general's plantation, who searched the house, and carried 
off all the private papers they could find. All communi- 
cation with his family was prevented, and soon after Gen- 
eral Mcintosh was sent to Havana and immured in the 
dungeons of Moro Castle. His resolute wife made every 
effort in her power to procure his release. Though deprived 
of her sight, she wrote to the Governor-General of Cuba 
several able letters, declaring the innocence of her hus- 
band, and urged that he should be brought to trial and 
confronted with his accusers. She also appealed to the 
sympathies of her husband's old comrades in arms, and 
enlisted the services of Washington himself to procure the 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 251 

release of the general. Finally, after having been kept a 
year in close confinement, the Governor of Cuba released 
him, and allowed him to return, without trial, to his 
family. Incensed and disgusted with the treachery of 
Quesada, General Mcintosh determined to abandon Flor- 
ida forever, and, gathering his adherents, some of whom 
had been fellow-sufferers, he descended the river, and 
returned to Georgia, not without having first destroyed a 
Spanish fort at the Cowfords, opposite Jacksonville, and 
several Spanish galleys that lay in the river. General 
Mcintosh was engaged in the War of 181 2, and died in 
1826. 

In 1795 Spain receded to France all that portion of West 
Florida lying west of the Perdido River, thus cutting off 
from West Florida the most valuable and important por- , 
tion of her territory. The progress of the great campaigns 
in Europe, in which the interest of Spain was so deeply 
involved, left the Floridas with but little care from the 
home government. White, who was for many years Gov- 
ernor of East Florida, had strong prejudices against the 
Americans, and opposed their settlement within his prov- 
ince. In the mean time, France, becoming satisfied that 
in the progress of events Louisiana and her West India 
colonies would be taken from her, entered into negotia- 
tions with the United States, and, in the year 1803, agreed, 
for the pecuniary consideration of fifteen millions of 
dollars, to cede the territory of Louisiana to the United 
States. 

Thus, at the end of two hundred and thirty years, France 
withdrew from the last of her possessions in North America. 
If we examine a map of the country as it was held by vari- 
ous European powers in the early part of the eighteenth 
century, we shall see on the north, the great territory of 
New France, extending along the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 



252 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



including part of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Cape Bre- 
ton, and Canada, lying on both sides of the river St. 
Lawrence and the lakes, along the Ohio River to its 
junction with the Mississippi, and the whole valley of the 
Mississippi, extending on the east to the Alleghany Mount- 
ains, on the west to the Rocky Mountains, and south to 
the Gulf of Mexico. Her forts and trading-houses were 
scattered along the borders of all the great lakes, and upon 
the Mississippi, from the Falls of St. Anthony to the Gulf 
of Mexico, and along all the tributaries of this great river. 
From these vast possessions France had retired step by 
step, receding from the frost-bound regions of Canada and 
the Northwest to the mild and sunny borders of the Gulf 
of Mexico. One by one she had parted with her posses- 
sions by the fortunes of war and treaty stipulations, and at 
last transferred, for a few millions of dollars, an empire in 
extent, reaching from the Gulf of Mexico to the far distant 
sources of the mighty river Mississippi. The towns upon 
its banks, the tributaries that swell its flood, the bold bluffs 
that overhang its currents, all bear to this day the names 
given them during the French possession. All the saints in 
the calendar are honored, and many an historic name per- 
petuated, along with the designation of the various tribes 
who once inhabited the land. 

The English colonies occupied a narrow strip along the 
coast, from the St. Croix on the north to the Altamaha 
on the south, with an average 'breadth of not over three 
hundred miles, not one-half of which was occupied. Upon 
the cession of Louisiana, the United States possessed them- 
selves of the territory lying west of the Perdido, and thus in- 
closed the Spanish province of Florida within narrow bound- 
aries. In the year 1811 the difficulties between the United 
States and Great Britain began to assume a threatening 
aspect. On the north the provinces of Upper and Lower 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



253 



Canada extended along the entire border, and offered every 
advantage for assailing the people of the border States. It 
was suspected that a design was on foot to seize Florida, 
and thus secure to the British a frontier along the whole 
southern border. The matter was thought of sufihcient im- 
portance by the President to bring it to the attention of 
Congress, and, in secret session, a resolution was passed, 
authorizing the President, in the event of an attempt being 
made by Great Britain to get possession of Florida, that 
territory should be occupied by the American forces. The 
President appointed General Matthews, of Georgia, and 
Colonel John McKee, commissioners to confer with the 
Spanish authorities of Florida and endeavor to procure a 
temporary cession of the province to the United States. 
They were, if successful, to establish a provisional govern- 
ment over the colonies ; if the governor so required, 
they were to stipulate for the redelivery of the country at 
some future time to Spain. But, in case of refusal, "should 
there be room to entertain a suspicion that a design ex- 
isted on the part of any other power to occupy Florida," 
they were authorized to take possession of the province 
with the force of the United States. As might have been 
anticipated, the Spanish governor declined a surrender of 
the province, and protested against any trespass upon his 
rights or domain. The plans of the government of the 
United States had, however, become generally known, and 
a number of frontiersmen along the borders of Georgia 
eagerly awaited an opportunity of making a descent upon 
Florida. In the spring of 181 2 a number of these persons, 
and some of the settlers from the northern borders of Flo- 
rida, assembled near St. Mary's, and organized themselves 
as patriots seeking to establish republican institutions in 
Florida. A provisional government was formed, and 

22 



254 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

officers were elected.* General John H. Mcintosh was 
chosen governor or director of the republic of Florida, and 
Colonel Ashley was appointed military chief. 

Fernandina had been occupied as a Spanish port for some 
three or four years, and was becoming a place of some im- 
portance. During the existence of the embargo imposed by 
the United States in the war of 1 812 with Great Britain, Fer- 
nandina had become a depot of neutral trade, and as many 
as one hundred and fifty square-rigged vessels, it is said, 
could have been counted at one time within her harbor, and 
the town then contained a population of about six hundred 
persons. In 181 2 a small Spanish garrison held possession 
of the place, commanded by Captain Jose Lopez. It was 
deemed important to secure possession of Fernandina, and 
nine American gunboats, under the command of Commo- 
dore Campbell, had come into the harbor, under the 
pretense of seeking to protect American interests. Gen- 
eral Matthews, having determined upon the occupation of 
Amelia Island, used the patriot organization as a cover to 
effect his purpose. The gunboats were drawn up in line in 
front of Fernandina, with their guns bearing upon the fort. 
Colonel Ashley then embarked his patriots in boats, and 
approached the town with a summons to surrender. The 
commandant, Don Jose Lopez, seeing a line of gunboats, 
with their guns bearing upon the town, flying the flag of a 
neutral power, but prepared to enforce the demand of the 
soi-disant patriots, had no alternative but to haul down the 
Spanish flag. Articles of capitulation were entered into at 
four o'clock on the 17th of March, 1812, between Don Jose 
Lopez, Commandant, etc., on the part of the Spanish gov- 
ernment, and John H. Mcintosh, Esq., commissioner 
named and duly authorized by the patriots of the district 

* A copy of this constitution is in the possession of the writer. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



255 



of the province lying between the rivers St. John's and St. 
Mary's. The fifth article of capitulation provided "that 
the island shall, twenty-four hours after the surrender, be 
ceded to the United States of America, under the express 
condition that the port of Fernandina shall not be subject 
to aftiy of the restrictions on commerce that exist at present 
in the United States, but shall be open, as heretofore, to 
British and other vessels and produce, on paying the law- 
ful tonnage and import duties; and, in case of actual war 
between the United States and Great Britain, the port of 
Fernandina shall be open to British merchant vessels and 
produce, and considered a free port until the ist of May, 
1813." 

The articles were witnessed by George Atkinson, George 
I. F. Clarke, Charles W. Clarke, and Archibald Clark. 

The succeeding day. Lieutenant Ridgley, of the United 
States Army, assumed command, and Colonel Ashley, with 
his patriot army, numbering some three hundred men, were 
marched towards St. Augustine. On their way they arrested 
Zephaniah Kingsley, a well-known planter, and afterwards 
induced him to join in the enterprise. They marched to 
within two miles of St. Augustine, and camped at the place 
known as Fort Moosa. Colonel Smith, with a detachment 
of one hundred regulars, here joined the patriots. Soon 
after they became dissatisfied with Colonel Ashley, and sus- 
pended him from the command, and William Craig, one of 
the Spanish judges, was put in his place. Colonel Estrada, 
the acting governor of Florida, was unwilling to meet these 
insignificant forces in the field, but, managing to get some 
small guns on a schooner, he shelled Fort Moosa from the 
water approaches, and compelled the patriots and their 
supporters to fall back to. Pass Navarro and intrench them- 
selves; but soon, finding that 'their force was wholly insuffi- 
cient to take St. Augustine, the patriots fell back to the 



256 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



St. John's, leaving Colonel Smith and his regulars at the 
pass. 

The occupation of Fernandina, and subsequent move- 
ment upon St. Augustine, coming to the knowledge of the 
Spanish Minister at Washington, he remonstrated with the 
American government against this violation of treaty stipu- 
lations, and the British Minister also protested against this 
invasion of neutral territory. 

The President was in an embarrassing position. General 
Matthews was his accredited commissioner, and had his 
written instructions to occupy the country should there be 
room to entertain a suspicion that a design existed on the 
part 0/ any other power to take possession of the province. 
The alternative existed of boldly justifying his own acts, 
assuming the responsibility, and accepting the consequences, 
or of sacrificing his agent and disowning his acts. The 
President pursued the usual course of those in power : he 
politely ignored the measures that had been taken by his 
commissioner, and declared that he had transcended his 
authority ; regretted the mistake, and promised to have it 
corrected. General Matthews was relieved from his posi- 
tion, and Governor Mitchell, of Georgia, appointed in his 
place, with instructions to restore the condition of affairs 
which existed before the invasion, and to act in harmony 
with Governor Estrada. While these diplomatic move- 
ments were in progress, and just after the appointment of 
Governor Mitchell, an affair took place which was very 

iisgraceful to the Spanish governor and tended greatly to 
exasperate the United States military authorities. On the^ 
evening of the 12th of May, a detachment of United States 
troops, mostly made up of invalids, under the command 
of Lieutenant Williams, of the United States Marine Corps, 
with a number of wagons, were on their way from Colonel 

Smith's camp, at Pass Navarro, to Colonel Briggs's camp 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 257 

on the St. John's, when they were attacked by a company 
of negroes, under the command of a fellow by the name of 
Prince, sent out by the governor of St. Augustine. These 
negroes, concealing themselves in Twelve-Mile Swamp at 
a point where the road is lined on both sides by a dense 
thicket, poured in upon the unsuspecting party a deadly 
volley. Lieutenant Williams fell, mortally wounded, 
pierced with six bullets. Captain Fort, of the Milledge- 
ville Volunteers, was wounded, and a non-commissioned 
officer and six privates were killed. The soldiers imme- 
diately charged upon the negroes, who instantly broke 
and fled. 

Governor Mitchell promptly called for reinforcements, 
to enable him to attack St. Augustine. In the mean time, 
Governor Kindelan had been sent out as Governor of Flo- 
rida, and in June he made a formal demand for the with- 
drawal of Colonel Smith from the province, and the Presi- 
dent, finding that Congress was opposed to entering into 
any further hostilities with Spain while serious difficulties 
were threatening with England, felt obliged to make ar- 
rangements for withdrawing all the United States troops 
from Florida. The camp at Pass Navarro was broken up, 
and Colonel Smith withdrew with his command, now 
greatly reduced by sickness, to Davis's Creek, on the 
King's Road. In the mean time, the Indians, under their 
chiefs Payne and Bowlegs, had begun a predatory warfare 
upon the settlements, carrying off all the live stock they 
could find, burning houses, and stealing negroes, and were 
preparing to extend their incursions into Georgia. It was 
determined to make an effort to disperse the Indians, if 
possible, before they collected in sufficient numbers to be 
formidable. Colonel Newnan, of Georgia, the Inspector- 
General of that State, who was a volunteer, offered to lead 
a party against Payne's town in Alachua. Organizing a 



258 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

command of one hundred and ten men only, from the 
patriots in Florida, he undertook to penetrate the enemy's 
country over one hundred miles, and attack two formidable 
chiefs surrounded by their warriors and with every advan- 
tage of position and thorough knowledge of the country. 

Crossing at Picolata, Colonel Newnan and his men ar- 
rived the third day at the foot of Lake Pithlachocco, a few 
miles from Payne's town. They here unexpectedly encoun- 
tered an Indian force of about one hundred and fifty, 
under their leaders Bowlegs and Payne, who had just set 
out on the war-path. Both sides prepared for the conflict, 
which began about mid-day. Captain Fort, of the infantry, 
was posted on the left, Lieutenants Broadnax and Reed in 
the centre, and Captain Humphreys, with a detachment of 
marines, held the right. King Payne, mounted on a white 
horse, displayed great gallantry in leading his men into 
action. At first they fired from the shelter of a swamp, so 
well protected on both sides that but little effect was pro- 
duced by the return fire of Newnan' s men. A feigned re- 
treat on their part, however, drew the Indians out in pursuit, 
when, suddenly turning upon them, Newnan killed a great 
number, and mortally wounded Payne. Dismayed by the 
loss of their leader, the Indians fled from the field ; but, 
knowing the Indian character so well, Newnan felt confi- 
dent they would soon renew the attack, and lost no time in 
throwing up temporary breastworks to protect his small 
force. About sundown Bowlegs returned, heavily rein- 
forced, and began the attack with great vigor. They came 
forward yelling, and charged nearly up to the intrench- 
ments. 

Newnan' s forces received them with great coolness, and 
returned a galling fire, which drove them back with great 
loss. The Indians returned to the attack several times, but 
the steady valor of the whites forced them finally to re- 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



259 



treat, carrying off their dead and wounded. Confident 
that Bowlegs would again return, Newnan still further 
strengthened his position, and prepared for a siege. For- 
tunately, they killed an ox, and subsisted on that and the 
one horse they had left, the Indians having carried off all 
the others. The night of the eighth day they effected a 
silent retreat, and, carrying their wounded on litters, 
marched slowly back towards the St. John's. The Indians 
were not long in discovering that their enemy were on the 
retreat, and quickly followed in pursuit. Newnan 's party 
was overtaken when on their way to Picolata, and attacked 
by a band of fifty Seminoles, under their young governor. 
Three of the whites were killed at the first fire, but, not- 
withstanding their exhausted condition, they roused them- 
selves, and made a charge on the Indians which put them 
to flight, leaving their chief dead on the field. A few miles 
farther on, Newnan halted and threw up breastworks, and 
sent a messenger in for the relief they so much needed. 
Their provisions were exhausted, and their wounded men 
suffering for want of care and rest. A party was sent out 
foraging, but could find nothing but two alligators, and on 
these they subsisted until the arrival of sixteen horsemen 
with provisions. The wounded men were mounted, and in 
two days they all reached Picolata. The death of Payne 
greatly discomfited the Indians, and for the time put a stop 
to their preparations for war, but they still continued, in 
small bands, to annoy the border settlers. Among these 
was Mr. Kingsley, whose plantation the Indians kept in a 
state of siege, and carried off his cattle and negroes. The 
patriots retaliated upon the loyalists, and lawless bands 
were scattered over the country, plundering and destroying 
property, until scarcely a house or plantation remained 
uninjured in the province. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Occupation of Pensacola by the English — English driven from Pensa- 
cola by General Jackson — Destruction of Negro Fort on Apalachi- 
cola by Colonel Clinch — Defeat of Florida Indians by General 
Jackson — Occupation of Pensacola by General Jackson — Treaty with 
Spain, ceding Florida to United States. 

1813 — 1821. 

About the year 1812 a party of Georgians visited the 
Alachua district of country, carrying with them a surveyor 
to run out the lands which they expected to conquer and 
occupy. The surveyor was killed by the Indians, and it is 
said that his field-notes and plots were carried in by the 
Indians to Geo. I. F. Clarke, Esq., the Spanish Surveyor- 
General, and formed the basis of all the Spanish land- 
grants in the Alachua district of country, now covered by 
Alachua and Marion counties. The promoter of this expe- 
dition was a General Harris, of Georgia. The Indians 
attacked the party and forced them to retire. 

The American troops were not finally withdrawn from 
Florida until the early part of the year 181 3. Governor 
Mitchell had been superseded by General Pinkney, but no 
active operations were carried on against the Spanish inhab- 
itants. This incursion of the United States troops into 
Florida ruined the agricultural interests of the country, 
which had begun to revive, and were attended with very 
encouraging success. The civil war and unbridled license 
which prevailed for a year and a half broke up and dis- 
(260) 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 261 

heartened the planters, who saw the fruits of their well- 
applied industry made the prey of lawless invaders, their 
homes rendered insecure, their stock carried off, their 
slaves scattered, their crops and fences destroyed, and all 
they possessed plundered and pillaged under the immunity 
and protection afforded to the perpetrators of these wrongs 
by the flag of the United States. The planters retired in 
despair to St. Augustine, and sought shelter and protection 
under the guns of the fort. The Spanish forces were too 
weak to contest with the invaders the possession of the 
country, and during the years 181 2 and'1813 Florida was 
virtually in the condition of a conquered province. 

The war of 181 2, between the United States and Great 
Britain, to some extent involved Florida. In August, 1814, 
a British fleet entered the harbor of Pensacola, and landed 
troops, which were placed in garrison in Forts Michel and 
Barrancas, with the assent of Governor Manrequez; the 
British flag was raised over the forts, and the Indians of 
that region taken under British protection and pledged to 
carry on hostilities against the Americans, being furnished 
with arms and ammunition and promised liberal bounties. 

General Jackson was directed by the government of the 
United States to counteract these movements, and, having 
raised a body of troops, marched against Pensacola in No- 
vember of the same year. His forces consisted of five 
thousand Tennessee volunteers and a large force of friendly 
Indians. A flag which General Jackson had sent forward 
to open communication with the Spanish governor was fired 
upon, and he immediately determined to storm the town. 
Marching his troops to the eastward of the city, he pushed 
forward his columns for a direct assault. The town was 
protected by a fort, several batteries, and seven vessels of 
war lying in front of the city. The advance of General 
Jackson's column was rapid, and they soon entered the 



262 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

streets of the city. A battery of two guns, which had been 
planted so as to sweep with grape and canister the street 
upon which they entered, was stormed and captured by 
Major Laval. The town soon yielded, and with Fort 
Michel was taken possession of by the American troops. 
Fort Barrancas was blown up by Colonel Nichols, the Eng- 
lish commander, who, with the British troops and their 
Indian allies, escaped on board the vessels and went to sea. 
The Indians were landed on the Apalachicola River. 

After holding the town two days, and having destroyed 
the fortifications, General Jackson withdrew his troops and 
proceeded with his command to New Orleans, then threat- 
ened by the British forces. The Spanish governor, after 
General Jackson's forces had withdrawn, commenced re- 
building the fortifications, declining the assistance proffered 
by the English for that purpose. 

Colonel Nichols, having been expelled from Pensacola, 
devoted his attention to organizing an Indian and negro 
territory on the river Apalachicola, for the purpose of estab- 
lishing a place of refuge for runaway negroes from the 
Southern States, who, in connection with the Indians, 
might operate with effect upon the frontier settlements. 
Selecting a place admirably suited for the purpose on that 
river, he superintended the erection of a strong fortification 
upon a high bluff, making out into the river, well protected 
by a deep mor.ass in the rear. A garrison of three hundred 
British troops was placed in it, and it was made a point of 
rendezvous for the Creek Indians called Bluesticks. During 
the following year a large number of runaway negroes con- 
gregated in this region of country, and settled along the 
banks of the Apalachicola River for some fifty miles, bid- 
ding defiance to both the Spanish and American govern- 
ments. After the close of the war with Great Britain, the 
British garrison was withdrawn, and the fort was left in the 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 263 

hands of the runaway negroes, who were closely allied with 
the Indians, and were under the leadership of a negro 
by the name of Garcia. The fort was situated on the east 
side of the river, at the point where Fort Gadsden was 
afterwards built. The parapet was fifteen feet high and 
eighteen feet thick, and it was defended by nine pieces of 
artillery, several of which were of large calibre. Besides 
the swamp in the rear, it was protected by a large creek 
above it and a small creek below it. Two large magazines 
were w^ll supplied with ammunition, and three thousand 
stand of arms had been furnished by their British allies. 
Thus situated, the fort commanded the navigation of the 
Apalachicola River, and of the Flint River also, and men- 
aced the settlements along the borders, while affording a 
refuge for all runaway slaves. 

In August, 1 81 6, Colonel Duncan L. Clinch, of the 
United States Army, was stationed at Camp Crawford, on 
the Chattahoochee River, about one hundred and fifty 
miles above the Bay of Apalachicola. General Gaines had 
directed a supply of provisions, with a quantity of ordnance- 
stores, two eighteen-pounders, and one howitzer, to ascend 
the river to Camp Crawford ; and, as the hostile attitude 
of the Indians and negroes at the negro fort made it 
probable that some opposition would be made to the pas- 
sage of the expedition up the river, General Gaines in- 
structed Colonel Clinch, in case of such opposition, to 
take measures to reduce the fort. 

An Indian chief by the name of Lafarka was sent down 
the river from Fort Crawford, to obtain some information 
of the convoy and vessels guarding it, and soon re- 
turned with dispatches from Sailing-Master Loomis, ad- 
vising Colonel Clinch of his arrival in the bay with two 
gunboats and two transports, with provisions, etc. Col- 
onel Clinch immediately set out with one hundred and 



264 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

sixteen men in boats to descend the river. These forces 
were divided into two companies, under command of Major 
Muhlenberg and Captain Taylor. On their way a junction 
was accidentally effected with a large body of Creek In- 
dians, who, without any knowledge of the movements of 
the United States troops, were also on their way to attack 
the negro fort, and capture the runaways for the benefit of 
their owners. 

These Indians were under the command of Major Mc- 
intosh, and the next day were joined by another party, 
under Captain Isaacs and Kateha-haigo — mad-tiger. A 
council was held, and the Indians agreed to act in concert 
with the whites. Scouts were kept in the advance, who 
captured an Indian with a scalp, which he was carrying 
into the fort. The prisoner informed Colonel Clinch 
that the black leader, Garcia, and a Choctaw chief, had 
been down the bay the day before, saying they had killed 
several Americans and taken a boat from them. It appears 
that Lieutenant Loomis, the commander of the gunboats, 
had sent out Midshipman Luffborough, with four seamen, 
into the river to get a supply of fresh water, where they 
were attacked by a party of negroes and Choctaws, who 
fired upon them, killing the midshipman and two of the 
seamen ; one was taken prisoner, and the fourth escaped. 

The command of Colonel Clinch landed within a short 
distance of the negro fort. The Indians were posted 
around it, so as to cut off all communication, and an irreg- 
ular fire kept up to harass the besieged. They replied by 
a constant discharge of artillery, which inflicted no damage 
upon the besiegers, but greatly reduced their supply of am- 
munition. Some days before, a party of Indian chiefs had 
entered the fort and demanded its surrender, but they were 
received with abuse, and the negro commander told theni 
that he had been placed in command by the British gov- 



HISTORY GF FLORIDA. 265 

ernment, and he intended to sink any American vessels 
which should attempt to pass his fort, and that when he 
found that he could not hold the fort he would blow it up. 
After this declaration, he hoisted the red flag with the 
English Jack over it. 

The vessels from below were brought up to within four 
miles of the fort, and, after a careful examination of the 
ground, a position was selected for a battery on the west 
side of the river, opposite to the fort. The troops under 
Major Muhlenberg and Captain Taylor occupied the west 
side of the river, and Major Mcintosh and his Indians, 
and a detachment of American troops, invested the fort in 
the rear. On the morning of the 24th of August, the two 
gunboats came up and took position in front of the battery. 
The negroes immediately opened fire upon them from a 
thirty-two-pounder, which was replied to with such effect 
that, at the fifth discharge, a hot-shot from Gunboat 154, 
commanded by Sailing-Master Basset, entered one of the 
magazines of the fort and blew it up, thus rendering any 
further defense of the fort impossible. The garrison con- 
sisted of about one hundred effective men, including 
tweaty-five Choctaws, and there were over two hundred 
women and children, of whom not over fifty escaped the 
effects of the explosion. 

The Americans sustained no loss whatever. A large 
amount of property was taken, estimated at two hundred 
thousand dollars in value. One hundred and sixty barrels 
of powder were saved from an uninjured magazine. The 
negro commander, Garcia, and the outlawed Choctaw chief, 
were condemned to death by a council of the friendly 
Indians, for the murder of the midshipman and seamen. 
The sentence was carried into effect immediately. The 
runaway Spanish negroes were turned over to the Spanish 
Agent, and the American negroes delivered to Colonel 

23 



266 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

Clinch to be restored to their owners. A body of Semi- 
noles had come down the river to aid the besieged, but, the 
news of the capture of the fort having reached them, they 
scattered to their homes. 

The destruction of this fort broke up for the time the 
Indian and negro settlements. The English government 
appear, in this instance, to have encouraged their agents 
to violate all the rules of civilized and honorable warfare, 
by permitting them to instigate an atrocious Indian war, in 
connection with a hostile negro organization, to prey upon 
the defenseless frontiers of the Southern States. Bounties 
were offered and paid for the scalps of Americans, a strong 
fortress w^as built for the protection of outlaws, murderers, 
and runaway slaves, and large sums of money were spent in 
supplying them with arms, ammunition, and provisions, and 
the British flag allowed to float over this mongrel crew. 
The evil influences of the course pursued by these English 
agents were felt for a long time, and finally forced the 
American government, in self-defense, to adopt measures 
for putting to an end forever the atrocities of the savage 
allies of Great Britain. 

Instigated by the English emissaries Nichols and Wood- 
bine, the Seminoles, with scattering bands from other 
tribes, continued to annoy the border settlements in Geor- 
gia, and several times attacked transports on the Apalachi- 
cola River, in one instance mustering twelve hundred men 
and continuing the fight for several days. In January, 
1818, General Jackson made a treaty with the Creeks, 
and engaged them to join him in an attack upon the Semi- 
noles of Florida. In the spring of the same year, with a 
force of one thousand militia, five hundred regulars, and 
nearly two thousand Indians, he started on an expedi- 
tion against the Seminoles, with the purpose of destroying 
their power and putting an end to their depredations. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 267 

Marching rapidly upon the Miccosukee towns of East 
Florida, he destroyed them, and soon afterwards attacked 
and destroyed the Fowl towns, the Indians making but a 
feeble resistance. General Jackson then marched upon 
St. Mark's^ which was strongly fortified and had twenty 
guns mounted. The fort surrendered without resistance, 
and Prophet Francis and another Indian chief fell into the 
hands of the Americans, and were immediately hanged. 

At Miccosukee, General Jackson found three hundred 
scalps of men, women, and children, most of them fresh, and 
which had evidently been recently exhibited with triumph. 
From St. Mark's General Jackson marched to Suwanee, 
where he dispersed a large number of Indians, and took 
many prisoners, among them two Englishmen, Arbuthnot 
and Ambrister, who were accused of being the chief agents 
in supplying the Indians with arms and ammunition and 
directing their operations against the whites. A court-mar- 
tial was held to try them, and both being found guilty were 
sentenced to suffer death, one by hanging, the other to be 
shot, and the sentence was promptly executed. This action 
of General Jackson was severely criticised, both at the time, 
and subsequently in the political contests in which he be- 
came engaged. General Jackson afterwards marched against 
Pensacola, having been infornjed that the Spanish govern- 
ment, while furnishing arms to the Indians who were hostile 
to the United States, refused to allow provisions to pass up 
the Escambia for the American troops. Upon the approach 
of General Jackson, the Spanish governor retired to Fort 
Barrancas, which, being menaced by the United States 
troops, was surrendered after a slight show of resistance. 

A treaty of peace, consisting of sixteen articles, was con- 
cluded between Spain and the United States on the 2 2d of 
February, 181 9, ceding the Floridas to the United States. 
The sixth article of this treaty provided that ''the inhab- 



268 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

itants of the territories ceded to the United States should 
be incorporated into the Union of the United States, as 
soon as might be consistent with the principles of the Fed- 
eral Constitution, and admitted to the enjoyment of all the 
privileges, rights, and immunities of the citizens of the 
United States." 

The eighth article provided ''that all the grants of land 
made before the 24th of January, 181 8, by Spain, should 
be ratified and confirmed to the same extent that the same 
grants would be valid if the territories had remained under 
the dominion of Spain." 

The ninth article provided that " the United States would 
cause satisfaction to be made for the injuries, if any, which 
by process of law should be established to have been suf- 
fered by the Spanish officers and individual Spanish inhab- 
itants by the late operations of the American army in 
Florida." 

These articles of the treaty have given validity to what 
are now known as Spanish grants and claims for losses, in 
which so many of the people of Florida were interested. 

The treaty was finally ratified on the 19th of February, 
1 82 1. The change of flags in East Florida took place at 
St. Augustine, loth of July, 1821, under Governor Cop- 
pinger on the part of Spain, and Colonel Robert Butler 
on the part of the United States ; in West Florida, at 
Pensacola, on the 21st of July, 1821, Governor Callava 
representing the Spanish government and General Jackson 
that of the United States. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Organization of the Territory of Florida — Condition of the Indians — 
Treaty of Fort Moultrie — Indian Agency — Treaty of Payne's Land- 
ing — Collisions between the Races. 

1821— 1833. 

Upon the change of flags the civil administration of 
affairs devolved upon the military authorities until the 
passage of an act of Congress, on the 3d of March, 1822, 
for the establishment of a territorial government in Florida, 
which provided that the territory ceded by Spain to the 
United States, known by the name of East and West Flo- 
rida, should constitute a Territory of the United States, 
known by the name of the Territory of Florida. The gov- 
ernment was to be administered by a governor appointed 
by the President, who was to be ex-oificio Superintendent 
of Indian Affairs, and aathorized to appoint all local 
officers. The legislative power was vested in the governor 
and in " thirteen of the most fit and discreet persons of the 
Territory," to be called the ^'Legislative Council," to be 
appointed annually by the President. The judicial power 
was vested in two superior courts, one for each division of 
the Territory. The governor was allowed a salary of two 
thousand five hundred dollars, the secretary fifteen hun- 
dred dollars, and the judges of the superior courts fifteen 
hundred dollars each; members of the Council three dol- 

23* C 269 ) 



2 70 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

lars per day. The first governor appointed was William 
P. Duval, of Kentucky. The first Legislative Council mety 
at 'Pensacola, in June, 1822. An amended act of Con- 
gress, relative to the civil government of Florida, was 
passed 3d March, 1823, and the second session of the 
Legislative Council was held at St. Augustine. At the 
session of 1822 West Florida was divided into two coun- 
ties, Escambia and Jackson, and East Florida into the 
counties of St. John's and Duval. 

Dr. William H. Simmons and John Lee Williams, Esq., 
were appointed commissioners to select a site for the seat 
of government. They chose the old Indian fields of Tal- 
lahassee, then covered in part by a noble growth of live- 
oaks and magnolias, and in the vicinity of a beautiful cas- 
cade, which has long since disappeared. Their choice was 
approved by the Council in October, 1823, and the seat of 
government permanently established, retaining, with great 
good taste, the euphonious Indian name of Tallahassee. The 
first house was erected in the new capital in the spring of 
1824, and the construction of the State-house began in 

1826, but was not completed for many years. Gadsden 
and Monroe Counties were established in 1824, and sub- 
sequently Walton, Leon, Alachua, and Nassau. In 1825, 
Washington and Mosquito Counties were established. In 

1827, Jefferson County, and, in 1828, Hamilton and Madi- 
son Counties were set off from Jefferson. 

The settlement of the country would have progressed 
much more rapidly but for the difficulty of disposing of the 
Indians, who occupied so large a portion of the country. 

The acquisition of Florida was regarded as a matter of 
great national importance, occupying, as it did, so large a 
portion of the Southern coast-line, and rendering its pos- 
session by an unfriendly power hazardous to the commerce 
of all the States bordering on the Mississippi and the Gulf 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 271 

of Mexico. It was also regarded with much interest as 
adding to the United States a tropical region, beyond the 
limits of frost, where the sugar-cane and tropical fruits could 
be cultivated. 

The change of flags in Florida transferred the Indian 
tribes from the mild and timid control, almost nominal in 
its character, of the Spanish governors, to the exacting and 
ever-encroaching domination of the Americans. The pre- 
vious difficulties, caused by the irruptions oT the Georgians 
under Harris and Matthews, had created a strong feeling of 
repugnance between the Indians and the border white men. 
The Indians had so long remained in undisputed control of 
the country that they had never realized that any authority 
could be exercised superior to their own, and understood 
nothing of the idea of a sovereignty over their domain by 
any government or power. The chastisement inflicted 
upon them by General Jackson had considerably broken 
their power and diminished their numbers, but they still 
occupied the whole interior of Florida. The Spanish set- 
tlement had never extended far from the coast in the neigh- 
borhood of St. Augustine and Amelia Island on the east, 
and Pensacola on the west, while all the extensive range of 
country lying between the Cape of Florida on the south, 
the St. Mary's River on the north, and the Perdido on the 
west, some eight hundred miles in extent, was occupied by 
the tribes of Seminoles or Miccosukies. 

The Miccosukies were considered to be the original 
occupants of the country, and th^ Seminoles were, as their 
name indicates, runaways from the Creek tribes living 
along the Chattahoochee River. A considerable number 
came into Florida in the year 1750, under Secoffee, a noted 
Creek chief, and settled in Alachua, the central part of the 
peninsula, a country possessing many very attractive fea- 
tures to an Indian. Secoffee left two sons, who became 



2 72 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

head chiefs, Payne and Bowlegs. In 1808 another band of 
Creeks settled in the vicinity of Tallahassee.* 

The parent nation, originally called Muscogees or Creeks, 
was one of the most powerful tribes of natives on the con- 
tinent ; their villages, sometimes numbering two thousand 
souls, extending along the whole course of the Apalachi- 
cola and Chattahoochee Rivers. 

The Seminoles were never very numerous, but occupied 
a vast extent of country. William Bartram, the celebrated 
botanist, visited a considerable part of the Indian country 
nearly a century since, in 1773, and gives this flattering 
account of the Seminoles in that day : 

"They possess all of East Florida and a large part of 
West Florida, countries which, divided as they are by 
nature into innumerable islands, hills, and marshes, marked 
with many rivers, lakes, streams, and vast prairies, offer 
such a number of desirable localities convenient for settle- 
ment and inaccessible to enemies. This country, so irreg- 
ular in its form, and so well watered, furnishes, besides, so 
great a quantity of the means of subsistence for wild ani- 
mals, that I do not hesitate to say that no part of the world 
contains so much game, and so many animals suitable for 
the support of man. 

" Surrounded with this great abundance, guaranteed from 
all extraneous attacks, the inhabitants of this region pos- 
sess the two great requirements for men in their union as a 
society, — security for person and for property. With the 
skins of the deer, the bear, the tiger, and the wolf, they 
purchase from the traders clothing and other necessary 
articles. They have no wishes to gratify, or wants for 
which they are required to provide ; no enemies to fear, 
no disquietudes, unless such as they may entertain from the 

* Sprague's Florida War, 19. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 273 

continual progress of the white settlements. Content and 
tranquil, they seem as free from care as the birds of the 
air ; like them they are light and volatile, like them they 
sing and coo. The Seminole presents the picture of per- 
fect happiness. The joy, the internal content, the tender 
love, and the generous friendship, are imprinted on his 
very countenance, they show themselves in his demeanor 
and in his gestures, they seem to form his habitual state of 
existence, and to be a part of his nature, for their impress 
only departs from him with life."* 

A pressure of interest was brought to bear upon Con- 
gress and the President, immediately after the cession of 
Florida to the United States, in order to have the country 
thrown open to settlement. 

According to the usual practice, the governor was made 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and an Indian Agent ap- 
pointed. Both were gentlemen of high character and un- 
blemished reputation, and were, moreover, imbued with a 
very warm degree of sympathy for the Indians and a deter- 
mination to protect them from aggression. The Indian 
Agent was Colonel Gad Humphreys, who had served with 
credit in the war with Great Britain. 

The number of Indians in Florida, in the year 1822, was 
ascertained to be about four thousand, with perhaps one 
thousand negroes associated with them as slaves or other- 
wise. They had scattered villages throughout the territory, 
with an inconsiderable amount of land in cultivation, their 
main dependence being hunting and fishing. 

The first demand made by citizens of the States adjoin- 
ing Florida, was that the Indians of Florida should be re- 
moved from the northern and western part of the Territory 
and restricted within narrower limits. Efforts were at 

•^ Bartram's Voyages, Paris edition, vol. i. p. 363. 



2 74 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

once made by Colonel Humphreys, under the direction of 
the government, to obtain the meeting of a council of the 
principal chiefs, for the purpose of making a treaty on this 
subject. 

A considerable number were induced to assemble at Fort 
Moultrie, six miles below St. Augustine, on the i8th Sep- 
tember, 1823, where they were met by Governor W. P. 
Duval, James Gadsden, and Bernardo Segui, as commis- 
sioners on the part of the United States, and a treaty, 
called the Treaty of Fort Moultrie, was negotiated, by 
which the Indians agreed to remove within certain limits, 
the northern line of which was about twenty miles south 
of Micanopy, the United States agreeing to compensate 
them for all improvements they might abandon. A bonus 
of six thousand dollars was to be paid them, and an annuity 
of five thousand dollars per year for twenty years. The 
treaty was signed by a majority of the chiefs, but six of the 
most influential had to be conciliated by further conces- 
sions and liberty to retain their improvements. , 

Colonel Humphreys established his agency at Fort King, 
in the midst of the Indian settlements, and remained in 
charge of the agency until March, 1830, maintaining, dur- 
ing the whole period, a sincere and earnest championship 
for the rights of the people committed to his charge. 

The usual difficulties attended the progress of the settle- 
ment of the country : the Indians stood in the way of the 
white settlers, who regarded them with an unfriendly eye. 
They, moreover, did not confine themselves to their limits, 
and thus gave ground for complaint. As the population of 
the country increased, a desire grew up to have the Indians 
entirely removed from the Territory. 

The Legislature memorialized Congress, asking their 
speedy removal from the Territory, and "that commis- 
sioners should be appointed to hold a new treaty with 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 275 

them, stipulating for their immediate removal to the new 
country west of the Mississippi." 

A considerable number of negroes were living with the 
Indians, mostly runaways. The parties from whom they 
had escaped were desirous of reclaiming them. The de- 
mand was resisted by the Indians, and hence difficulties 
continually arose. 

On the 29th October, 1828, a talk was held at McKen- 
zie's Pond, by Colonel G. Humphreys, Indian Agent, with 
Hicks, head chief, and a number of other chiefs, sub-chiefs, 
and warriors, for the purpose of prevailing on the chiefs 
of the Seminoles to send a delegation to examine the coun- 
try west of the Mississippi, which it was proposed by the 
government to give to the Indians of Florida. At this talk 
it was determined by the chiefs that ''they would organize 
a deputation for that purpose, to start early the ensuing 
spring, provided the agent himself would accompany the 
deputation on its tour of exploration; that their expenses 
should be paid ; and provided, further, that nothing should 
be inferred from the journey of said deputation in the 
character of an obligation on the nation (or any part of 
it) to remove to the country visited by said deputation ; 
and that such removal was not to be expected from them 
unless of their own free will and accord, after making the 
proposed examination." 

This proposition of the Indians was transmitted to the 
Indian Bureau, but no action was had upon it. Procrasti- 
nation discouraged the Indians, who soon after declared 
their determination to remain upon the land.* 

The relations with the Indians became more and more 
troublesome. The interior of Florida was a fine grazing 
country, and stock-raising was exceedingly profitable, and 

* Spiague's Florida War, 65." 



276 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

was the readiest employment, as well as the most lucrative, 
to which the white settlers could give their attention. The 
Indians remained in the best grazing region, and they also 
owned considerable stock. This stock, both hogs and cattle, 
was only to be recognized by marks and brands; and, for 
the purpose of marking and branding, the cattle were 
gathered every spring by the cattle-drivers. Of course 
they did not always get up all the stock they had a claim 
to, and left in the woods a considerable number of wild 
cattle, unmarked, and called in the Florida vernacular 
heretics and wild hogs. Collisions and difficulties grew 
out of the disputed ownership of cattle, and invasions of 
each other's limits in pursuit of stock were frequent. All 
losses were naturally charged upon the Indians, and com- 
plaints were unceasingly made, and demands of indemnity. 
Another source of trouble was the harboring of fugitive 
slaves in the Indian towns. From a long period anterior 
to the change of flags, runaway negroes from Georgia and 
South Carolina had joined the Indians, and, by intermar- 
riage, had become connected with and intermingled with 
them. They naturally received, and were disposed to pro- 
tect, the runaways who might escape from the neighboring 
white settlements. The negroes were so numerous among 
the Seminoles in 181 6 that at the destruction of the negro 
fort on the Apalachicola, by the United States troops, there 
were three hundred in the fort who were killed or captured ; 
and some five hundred negroes were engaged in the battle 
at Suwanee Old Town, in 1818. Their number in 1836 
was estimated at fourteen hundred.* It is said by many 
familiar with the subject that they exercised a very power- 
ful influence over the Indians ; and they certainly added a 
very important difficulty to the many others involved in 
negotiations with the Indians. 

•^ Gidding. Exiles of Florida, p. 97. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 277 

A restlessness and distrust began to pervade both the 
Indians and white settlers, and a constant pressure began 
towards an enforced emigration of the Indians to the West. 
The Indian tribes remaining in Georgia were also a subject 
of annoyance to the people of that State, and a feeling had 
grown up and was then generally entertained in the South 
and Southwest, that all these Indian tribes should be re- 
moved to the west of the Mississippi. 

The prevalence of intoxication, induced by the fondness 
of the Indians for strong liquors, and promoted by the un- 
principled venders of this poison, from the sale of which 
they not only derived ^large profits, but still larger advan- 
tages from the trades consummated with drunken Indians 
for their property while in a state of inebriation, occasioned 
numberless petty difficulties and brawls, which laid up in 
the Indian mind revengeful memories. 

The agent. Colonel Humphreys, was accused of being 
too partial to the Indians, — certainly not a common charge, 
— and influences were brought to bear, at Washington, by 
which his removal was effected in 1830. 

He was succeeded by Mr. John Phagan. The secretary 
and acting governor of the Territory, in an official letter 
dated 5th November, 1833, said that he found, on his 
visit to the agency, evidences of fraud and improper con- 
duct on the part of Major Phagan ; that he had sub-con- 
tracts with employees of the agency for much less than the 
amount they receipted for to the government, and that 
even then he was a defaulter to them."^' It may there- 
fore be presumed that his character and conduct would 
have been unsatisfactory to the Indians. 

The proposals made m" Colonel Humphreys, to send a 
delegation West, were revived, and after many delays 

* Sprague's History of the Florula War, p. 72. 



278 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



Major Phagan succeeded in getting together a respectable 
portion of the chiefs of the Seminoles at Payne's Landing, 
a point on the Ocklavvaha near Orange Springs, on the 9th 
of May, 1832, where they were met by Colonel James 
Gadsden, as a commissioner on the part of the United 
States, and the treaty of Payne's Landing was formed. 

The preamble to this treaty recites that the Seminole 
Indians, regarding with just respect the solicitude mani- 
fested by the President of the United States for the im- 
provement of their condition, by recommending a removal 
to a country more suitable to their habits and wants than 
Florida, are willing that their confidential chiefs, Jumper, 
Fuch-lus-to-had-jo, Charley Emathla, Coi-had-jo, Holati 
Emathla, Ya-ha-had-jo, and Sam Jones, accompanied by 
their agent. Major John Phagan, and their faithful inter- 
preter, Abraham, should be sent, at the expense of the 
United States, to examine the country assigned to the Creeks 
west of the Mississippi River, and should they be satisfied 
with the character of the country, and of the favorable dis- 
position of the Creeks to reunite with the Seminoles as 
one people, the articles of the compact and agreement 
herein stipulated at Payne's Landing, on the Ocklawaha 
River, the ninth day of May, 1832, between James Gads- 
den for and on behalf of the United States, and the 
undersigned chiefs and head - men for and in behalf of 
the Seminole Indians, shall be binding on the respective 
parties. 

The first article surrendered their lands in Florida for an 
equal extent of country west of the Mississippi. 

The second article stipulated for the payment of the 
sum of fifteen thousand four hundred dollars, to be divided 
among them. 

The third article provided for giving a blanket, etc. to 
each, on their arrival at their destination. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 279 

The fourth article gave an annuity of three thousand 
dollars for ten years. 

The fifth article provided for the payment by the United 
States for their cattle. 

The sixth was as follows : — 

"The Seminoles being anxious to be relieved from the 
repeated vexatious demands for slaves and other property 
alleged to have been stolen and destroyed by them, so that 
they may remove unembarrassed to their new homes, the 
United States stipulate to have the same (properly) inves- 
tigated, and to liquidate such as may be satisfactorily es- 
tablished, provided the amount does not exceed seven 
thousand ($7000) dollars." 

The seventh article provided that the Indians would re- 
move within three years after the ratification of this agree- 
ment, the emigration to commence as early as practicable 
in the year 1833, and the remainder of the Indians in equal 
proportions in the years 1834 and 1835.* 

The language of the preamble, it will be observed, is 
that the Indians are willing that their confidential chiefs, 
Jumper, etc., shall be sent out to examine the country 
west of the Mississippi River, and if they were satisfied 
with it, then the articles of the treaty relative to their re- 
moval should be binding on the respective parties. What- 
ever may have been the understanding and intention of 
the Indians, the language used is susceptible of but one 
construction : the pronoun they must necessarily relate to 
the confidential chiefs just before named, and does not 
sustain Captain (now General) Sprague's remark that ''the 
fulfillment of the treaty was clearly conditional. If the In- 
dians, that is, the nation, were satisfied with the country, 



* For the complete text of the treaty, see Sprague's History of the 
Florida War, 75. 



28o HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

as represented by those sent to explore it, a voluntary 
emigration would take place." (Page 76.) Even Mr. Gid- 
dings, with his strong desire to censure the whole transac- 
tion, does not attempt to raise any question as to the plain 
language of the treaty, merely referring to it as vague 
language. * 

The confidential chiefs, or Indian Commissioners, as they 
may properly be called, commenced their journey in Sep- 
tember, 1832, accompanied by Major Phagan, their agent, 
and were engaged in examining the country west of Ar- 
kansas until the last of March, 1833, — ^ period, one would 
suppose, permitting of a very careful examination. 

The executive, acting upon the plain language of the 
treaty, appointed Messrs. Montfort Stokes, H. L. Ells- 
worth, and J. F. Schermerhorn commissioners on the part 
of the United States to meet the confidential chiefs, who 
had been appointed by the Seminoles, at Fort Gibson, to 
ascertain the result of their examination, and, if satis- 
factory, to make such other arrangements as might be 
deemed requisite to carry the treaty into effect. What is 
called an ''additional treaty" was made at Fort Gibson on 
the 28th day of March, 1833, by the aforenamed com- 
missioners on the part of the United States, and by Jumper 
and all the other delegates of the Seminole nation of 
Indians on the part of said nation. The preamble recites 
the principal provisions of the treaty of Payne's Landing, 
and says that ''Whereas, the special delegation appointed 
by the Seminoles on the 9th of May, 1832, have since ex- 
amined the land designated for them by the undersigned 
commissioners on behalf of the United States, and have 
expressed themselves satisfied with the same, in and by 
their letter dated March, 1833, addressed to the under- 

* Exiles of Florida, p. 84. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 281 

signed commissioners: Now, therefore, the commissioners 
aforesaid, by virtue of the treaty made with the Creek 
Indians on the 14th February, 1833, hereby designate and 
assign to the Seminole tribe of Indians, for their separate 
future residence forever, a tract of land lying between the 
Canadian River and the North Fork thereof, and extending 
west to where a line, running north and south between the 
main Canadian and north branch thereof, will strike the 
forks of Little River ; and the undersigned Seminole chiefs, 
delegated as aforesaid on behalf of their nation, hereby 
declare themselves well satisfied with the location provided 
for them by the commissioners, and agree that their nation 
shall commence the removal to their new home as soon as 
the government will make arrangements for their emigra- 
tion satisfactory to the Seminole nation."* 

This treaty was ratified by the Senate of the United 
States, as was also that of Pa)^ne's Landing. 

Looking at the transaction as it appears upon its face, 
there seems no ground to assume anything but good faith 
and fair dealing on the part of the government. The 
country designated for the Seminoles was as fertile and as 
well situated for their support as the one they surrendered. 
The climate was colder, and their favorite light-wood was 
wanting; they were, however, relieved of the vexatious 
and increasing hostility of their white neighbors ; they had 
a boundless region lying west of them, and game, including 
the buffalo, in the greatest abundance. 

It is said that, when they returned, the nation was dis- 
satisfied with what they had done, and that they disowned 
their own acts ; that the Seminoles charged them with 
having been circumvented by the United States. Some of 
those who had signed the treaty, in deference to the pop- 

* Sprague's Florida War, p. 77. 



282 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

iilar clamor, became the warmest opponents of removal, 
and in the war which succeeded took arms against the gov- 
ernment. All this may be true, without there being any 
cause for reflection upon the government or its agents. The 
removal of the Indian tribes from the States fast settling up 
with the white race was a necessity, unless the richest and 
most productive portions of the United States were to be 
surrendered to them as hunting-grounds. Five thousand 
Indians were scattered over a country equaling in extent the 
State of New York. In Georgia and Alabama the Indian 
tribes still lingered, and there were continually influences at 
work to induce the Indians to hold possession of the country 
and to resist all attempts at removal. It is easy, in every 
community, for the young, the thoughtless, the restless, 
and the foolish to create resistance to a wise policy or a neces- 
sity, and to raise a clamor which passes for the voice of 
the people, when, in fact, it is but the noise of the few 
prevailing over the silence of the many. Thus it was in 
Florida; young warriors, who had no experience in war- 
fare, restless men, who desired excitement, and the run- 
away negroes, who believed their security imperiled by 
emigration, excited a resistance which the older men and 
chiefs had little part in organizing, but had no power to 
withstand. 

The treaty and additional treaty were ratified by the 
Senate on the 9th of April, 1834, and a proclamation to 
that effect was issued by President Jackson on the 12th of 
April, 1834. 

Measures were at once taken to effect the removal of the 
Indians. Major Phagan, the Agent, was superseded by 
General Wiley Thompson, and Colonel Duncan L. Clinch, 
an experienced army officer, was placed in command of the 
United States forces. 

General Thompson was informed, in October, 1834, by 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



283 



the United States officers in command at Fort King, of the 
determination of the influential chiefs not to emigrate, and 
of the hostility felt towards Charley Emathla, who had 
declared himself in favor of emigration. 

Violent language was used by some of the chiefs in a 
council called by General Thompson, and Osceola drew 
his knife in anger, and, driving it into the table, said, 
''The only treaty I Avill execute is with this." As he was 
only a sub-chief of the Red Sticks, and a half-breed of in- 
ferior standing, this something like stage- trick attracted but 
little attention. 

The negroes exercised, it is asserted, a wonderful control,* 
and they undoubtedly added very much to the barbarity 
and savage manner with which the war was prosecuted. 

The subject of emigration was, of course, a constant 
topic of conversation, and, when at the Agency, the In- 
dians were impudent, and treated the matter of their re- 
moval with ridicule. Charley Emathla alone, of the old 
chiefs, took decided ground in favor of emigration, and 
pointed out to the Indians the destruction and eventual 
defeat which awaited them. 

General Thompson, in a report to the Secretary of War, 
of October, 1834, says that he had observed that the 
Indians were buying powder in considerable quantities, and 
he understood that they had a deposit of forty or fifty 
kegs. In November, he writes that he is satisfied that they 
have been tampered with by designing and unprincipled 
whites. 

* Sprague's Florida War, 81. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Hostile Disposition of the Indians — Murder of General Thompson, 
Indian Agent — Massacre of Major Dade's Command — Battle of the 
Withlacoochee — General Scott's Campaign. 

1834— 1836. 

As time elapsed, it became evident to the Indian Agent 
and the military and civil officers in Florida that the In- 
dians had determined not to emigrate, and would altogether 
repudiate the treaty of Payne's Landing and the supple- 
mentary treaty of Fort Gibson. Ten companies of troops 
were placed at General Clinch's disposal, to enforce the 
provisions of the treaty. In February, 1835, the Secretary 
of War directed General Clinch to fully explain to the 
Indians the determination of the government to insist upon 
their removal, and that they should be made fully aware 
of the consequences of resistance, and then, ''if neces- 
sary, let actual force be employed and their removal 
effected." 

General Jackson, then President of the United States, 
sent a ''talk" to be read to the chiefs, urging their com- 
pliance with the treaty. Preparations for supplies, trans- 
portation, etc. were made by the War Department, upon a 
scale supposed to be fully equal to any probable require- 
ment. 

On the 24th of April, 1835, another council was held at 
the Indian Agency, which was attended by Colonel Clinch 
( 284 ) 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



28s 



and General Thompson, the Agent, and by a large number 
of the influential chiefs. The chiefs had agreed, before- 
hand, to interpose an unqualified negative to the proposal 
for their removal. On their assembling, Jumper acted as 
their mouthpiece, and declared their determination to re- 
main in Florida. General Thompson responded with some 
warmth, which led to recriminations, and a scene of con- 
fusion ensued. General Clinch interposed, and urged their 
fulfillment of the treaty, telling them of his orders to use 
his troops to enforce it. Eight of the chiefs came forward 
and agreed to emigrate, and five refused to abide by it ; 
these were Sam Jones, Jumper, Micanopy, Alligator, and 
Black Dirt. General Thompson at once struck the names 
of these five from the roll of chiefs, which created great 
ill feeling and was a most injudicious step, afterwards dis- 
approved of by the Secretary of War and the President. 
At the solicitation of the eight chiefs, the time for prepara- 
tion for removal was extended until the ist of January fol- 
lowing, when they promised that they would assemble at 
the points designated for their embarkation. The Indians 
seemed quieted, for a time at leasts but hoAv far they acted 
in good faith in making this promise is more than ques- 
tionable, and it seems quite probable that they sought 
nothing more than the delay necessary to secure their crops 
and ammunition and mature their plans. They continued 
to purchase ammunition and arms, until an order was 
issued by the Agent forbidding the sale of these articles to 
the Indians. This the Indians regarded as an act of hos- 
tility and an insult. Osceola was refused the privilege of 
purchasing pow^der, and in a burst of savage indignation 
exclaimed, "Am I a negro — a slave ? My skin is dark, but 
not black ! I am an Indian — a Seminole ! The white man 
shall not make me black ! I will make the white man red 
w^ith blood, and then blacken him in the sun and rain, 



2 86 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

where the wolf shall smell of his bones and the buzzard 
live upon his flesh !" 

This daring and impetuous leader was frequently at the 
Agency, comporting himself with reserve and sullenness, 
and using violent and intemperate language, and, on one 
occasion, carried his disrespect to General Thompson to 
such an extent that it was deemed necessary to arrest him 
and confine him in irons several days, until he professed 
to be penitent : on the solicitation of other chiefs he was 
released. He then expressed an entire willingness to emi- 
grate, and subsequently brought in seventy of his followers, 
who made the same pledge. 

In October, Major Llewellyn Williams and six of his 
neighbors discovered a party of Indians near the Canna- 
pa-ha Pond, butchering a beef. As the Indians were a 
long distance outside of their boundaries, the white party 
disarmed them and flogged some of them, but one escaped, 
and two Indian hunters coming up fired on the party of 
Major Williams. A skirmish ensued, in which two of the 
Indians were killed, and three of the white men wounded, 
one mortally. 

About the same time, the express-rider from Tampa Bay 
to Fort King was murdered by the Indians. 

Charley Emathla had commenced his preparations for 
removal, and gathered his cattle for appraisement and sale. 
Osceola, at the head of a party of Miccosukies, met the 
old chief on the trail to his village, in the latter part of 
November, and shot him down. A friendly chief, with a 
large number of women and children, now sought protec- 
tion at Tampa Bay. 

General Clinch asked for additional troops, and fourteen 
companies were directed to report to him from various 
military posts. The estimated number of Indians was 
three thousand, including women, children, and negroes. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 287 

and, in all, from four to five hundred fighting-men. The 
number of Indians was very greatly underestimated, as the 
government soon ascertained ; but upon their estimate the 
force placed under command of General Clinch seemed 
ample to compel submission. The ignorance of the gov- 
ernment agents as to the real number of the Indians in 
Florida seems strange, considering the intercourse main- 
tained through the Indian Agency and the traders. The 
error was a very fatal one, and the remissness of the War 
Department, in not sending troops in sufficient numbers as 
soon as the hostile intentions of the Indians were known, 
was very censurable. The authorities at Washington 
seem hardly to have comprehended the warlike char- 
acter of the Seminoles, or their powers of resistance. It 
is not surprising that this supineness of the government 
should have emboldened the Indians, the majority of whom 
were too young to recall the campaign of Jackson in 1818. 
They had never seen more than a few companies of troops, 
and had learned to despise the supposed feebleness of the 
government of the United States, while the many councils 
and "talks" held with them, to persuade them into acquies- 
cence, undoubtedly seemed to betoken conscious weakness. 
Osceola had dissembled his real feelings and intentions 
to such a degree as to deceive the agent and people into the 
belief of his sincerity ; but, brooding over his arrest and 
imprisonment, he thirsted for revenge. Gathering a band 
of some twenty of his followers, he approached the Indian 
Agency, seeking an opportunity to glut his vengeance. 
For two or three days no opportunity presented itself; but, 
on the afternoon of the 28th of December, General Thomp- 
son walked out after dinner in company with Lieutenant Con- 
stantine Smith, enjoying a cigar. The day being pleasant, 
they extended their walk towards the military sutler's, some 
distance from the fort. Unsuspicious of danger, they were 



288 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

already covered by the watchful eyes and unerring rifles of 
Osceola and his companions. At a given signal, the whole 
number of Indians fired upon them. General Thompson 
and the lieutenant fell, pierced by many balls. The In- 
dians rushed out with a yell, and scalped and mutilated 
their victims within sight of the fort. Proceeding to the 
sutler's store, they fired upon the party within, and, after 
scalping them and cutting in pieces their bodies, set fire to 
the building. 

The force in the fort consisted of only forty-six men, 
and it was supposed that the number of attacking Indians 
was much larger. It was consequently deemed imprudent 
to weaken the garrison by sending out any portion of the 
troops. Osceola and his band, however, contemplated 
nothing further than the destruction of the agent. General 
ThompscRi, and the sutler, Mr. Rogers, who had probably 
also incurred their enmity. The Indians left immediately 
after they had fired the sutler's store. 

Major Francis L. Dade, of the 4th Infantry, had been 
ordered from Key West to Fort Brooke, and on the 21st of 
December arrived at Tampa Bay, with Company A of his 
regiment, thirty-nine men, and a small supply of ammuni- 
tion. To this force was joined Captain Gardiner's company, 
C, of 2d Artillery, and Frazer's company, B, 3d Artillery, 
fifty men each. This force was directed to proceed to Fort 
King to strengthen that post. The distance was about one 
hundred and thirty miles, and the route lay through an 
entirely unsettled country. No one connected with the 
expedition being acquainted with the country, Major Dade 
secured the services of a negro slave named Lewis, be- 
longing to a sutler of the name of Antonio Pacheco.* 

* Giddings's Exiles of Florida, p. loi. Mr. Giddings makes a very 
pretty romance out of this negro Lewis, Avho must have been, by his 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 289 

This guide, it is said, informed the Indians of the date of 
departure and the intended route, with the view of afford- 
ing them a favorable opportunity of making an attack. The 
point of rendezvous agreed upon by the Seminole leaders 
was the Big Wahoo Swamp. Osceola, however, had de- 
termined to first wreak his vengeance upon General Thomp- 
son, which he so successfully accomplished. 

The troops under Major Dade commenced their march 
on the 24th of December. The officers attached to the 
command were Major F. L. Dade, 4th Infantry, Captain 
S. Gardiner, Second Lieutenant W. E. Basinger, Second 
Lieutenant R. Henderson, 2d Artillery, Captain U. S. 
Frazer, Second Lieutenant R. R. Mudge, Second Lieuten- 
ant J. L. Reals, 3d Artillery, Assistant Surgeon J. S. Gat- 
lin, and about one hundred men belonging to the 4th 
Infantry and 2d and 3d Artillery. One six-pounder field- 
piece and one light wagon, with ten days' provisions, ac- 
companied them. On reaching the Hillsborough River 
they were delayed some time on account of the bridge 
having been burned by the Indians. 

On the 2 7th they reached the Withlacoochee, and camped. 
The next morning they continued their march through an 
open pine country, and in apparent security, utterly unap- 
prehensive of danger. Their road was skirted, however, 
by the low palmetto, which afforded a covert for the In- 
dians, who were stationed on the west side of the road, 
where it passed near a pond. The troops were marching 
along in open order, and extending a considerable dis- 
tance. The Indians, posted near trees, and well concealed, 

account, an Admirable Crichton. " He had been well bred, was polite, 
accomplished, and learned. lie read, wrote, and spoke with facility 
the Spanish, French, and English languages, and spoke the Indian." 
This accomplished negro, it is said, had formerly belonged to Genera 
Clinch. He was the subject of the celebrated Pacheco Claim' in 1848. 

25 



L 



290 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

were to await the signal of attack, to be given by Mica- 
nopy, when each should select his object. They were 
mostly within a distance of thirty or forty yards, and, of 
course, their fire could hardly fail to be destructive. 
Nearly half the command fell at the first fire, which, pro- 
ceeding from an unseen foe, gave no opportunity of seek- 
ing shelter from, or returning it. The number of Indians 
engaged was, according to the report of Alligator, one 
hundred and eighty warriors, and, having secured the ad- 
vantage of the loss inflicted by the first fire, they were 
enabled to reload. 

Those who escaped the first discharge took shelter be- 
hind trees, and Lieutenant Basinger poured in five or six 
rounds of canister upon the Indians, which checked them 
for some time. They retreated over a small ridge and dis- 
appeared. Captain Frazer was killed at the first fire ; 
Lieutenant Mudge was mortally wounded, and Lieutenant 
Reals had both arms broken ; they were bound up, and he 
reclined against some logs until he was killed late in the 
action. Lieutenant Henderson had his left arm broken, 
but continued to load and fire his piece until late in the 
second attack, when he too was killed. Captain Gardiner, 
Lieutenant Basinger, and Dr. Gatlin were the only officers 
who escaped unhurt by the first volley. 

On the retreat of the Indians, Captain Gardiner com- 
menced the erection of the breastwork of pine-trees. In 
about three-quarters of an hour the Indians returned to the 
attack and commenced a cross-fire on the breastwork with 
deadly execution. Lieutenant Basinger continued to fire 
the six-pounder until all the men who served the piece were 
shot. Captain Gardiner at length fell. Dr. Gatlin, with 
two double-barreled guns, continued to fire on the Indians 
until he fell, late in the action ; and Lieutenant Basinger 
was wounded. About two o'clock the last man fell, and 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 291 

the Indians then rushed into the breastwork, headed by a 
heavy painted savage, who, believing that all were dead, 
made a speech to the Indians. They then stripped off the 
accoutrements of the soldiers and took their arms, without 
offering any indignity, and retired in a body. 

Soon after the Indians had left, about fifty negroes 
galloped up on horseback and alighted, and at once com- 
menced a horrible butchery. If any poor fellow on the 
ground showed signs of life, the negroes stabbed and 
tomahawked him. Lieutenant Basinger, being still alive, 
started up and begged the wretches to spare his life ; they 
mocked at his prayers, while they mangled him with their 
hatchets until he was relieved by death. 

After stripping the dead, the negroes shot the oxen and 
burned the gun-carriages. Shortly after the negroes re- 
tired, a soldier named Wilson, of Captain Gardiner's com- 
pany, crawled out, and, discovering that Rawson Clark was 
still alive, asked him to go back to Tampa with him. As 
he jumped over the breastwork, an Indian shot him. Clark 
lay down, and at night, with De Coney, another wounded 
man, made the best of his way to Tampa. The next day, 
De Coney was killed by an Indian ; Clark concealed him- 
self in a scrub, and the following day reached Tampa. 
Another soldier, named Thomas, bribed an Indian and was 
allowed to escape. 

Captain Hitchcock, with a detachment of troops, passed 
over the ground on the 20th of February following, and thus 
describes the appearance of the battle-ground, which had 
not before been visited by the United States forces : 

"Our advanced guard had passed the ground without 
halting, when General Gaines and his staff came upon one 
of the most appalling scenes that can be imagined. We 
first saw some broken and scattered boxes, then a cart, the 
two oxen of which were lying dead, as if they had fallen 



292 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

asleep, their yokes still on them ; a little to the right, one 
or two horses were seen. We then came to a small inclo- 
sure, made by felling trees in such a manner as to form a 
triangular breastwork for defense. Within the triangle, 
along the north and west faces of it, were about thirty 
bodies, mostly mere skeletons, but much of the clothing 
was left upon them. These were lying, almost every one 
of them, in precisely the same position they must have 
occupied during the fight, — their heads next to the logs over 
which they had delivered their fire, and their bodies 
stretched, with striking regularity, parallel to each other. 
They had evidently been shot dead at their posts, and the 
Indians had not disturbed them, except by taking the scalps 
of most of them. Passing this little breastwork, we found 
other bodies along the road, and by the side of the road, 
generally behind the trees which had been resorted to for 
covers from the enemy's fire. 

''Advancing about two hundred yards farther, we found 
a cluster of bodies in the middle of the road. These were 
evidently the advanced guard, in the rear of which was 
the body of Major Dade, and to the right that of Captain 
Frazer. 

"These were all, doubtless, shot down at the first fire of 
the Indians, except perhaps Captain Frazer, who must have 
fallen very early in the fight. Those in the road and by 
the trees fell during the first attack. It was during the 
cessation of the fire that the little band still remaining, 
about thirty in number, threw up the triangular breastwork, 
which, from the haste with which it was constructed, was 
necessarily defective, and could not protect the men in the 
second attack."* 



* For Alligator's account of the massacre, see Sprague's History of 
the Florida War, p. 90. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



293 



Osceola and his band arrived at the Wahoo Swamp that 
night, too late to participate in the fight, but in time to 
assist in the celebration of the victory. 

It was not until some time afterwards that General Clinch 
learned the fate of Dade's command. It is said, however, 
that on the next day after the Dade massacre it was known 
among the negroes in St. Augustine that a terrible slaughter 
of white troops had taken place in the interior, the news, 
it is supposed, having been rapidly communicated by 
Indian runners through the country, and that the Indian 
negroes sent word to their relatives in St. Augustine. 

The treacherous negro guide, Luis Pacheco, feigned to 
fall at the first fire, but joined the Indians at the earliest 
moment, and ever afterwards remained with and aided 
them, and was eventually sent to Arkansas, where his ac- 
complishments seem to have been obscured. 

This massacre astounded the country. No such event had 
ever before occurred in the annals of Indian warfare. That 
two entire companies of trained and disciplined soldiers, 
fully armed and in perfect order and equipment, well and 
bravely officered, with a field-piece at their command, in an 
open field and under the bright sun of a Florida sky, should 
be totally cut off and annihilated by a not very numerous 
band of half-naked savages, was without a parallel. Alli- 
gator says that he counted the whole Indian force, amount- 
ing to one hundred and eighty. Captain Hitchcock esti- 
mated, from the appearance of the ground afterwards, that 
there must have been three hundred and fifty. The true 
number will never be known ; but, even supposing the latter 
estimate correct, it seems at first sight extraordinary that 
such a number could accomplish the entire destruction of 
a body of disciplined troops. 

On the ist of December, General Clinch heard of the 
murder of Charley Emathla, and at once called for volun- 

25* 



294 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

teers, and by the 15th several companies from Nassau and 
Duval Counties joined General Call, with five hundred 
men from Middle Florida, at Newnansville. On their way 
to Fort Drane they encountered two small parties of 
Indians, and reached Fort Drane on the 24th of December, 
and formed a junction with General Clinch. As the vol- 
unteers were levied for only one month, the forces were 
put in motion for the Withlacoochee as soon as Colonel 
Fanning, with three companies of artillery from Fort King, 
could join them. These having arrived, the expedition 
reached the Withlacoochee on the 31st, and most of the 
troops had succeeded in crossing, when they were attacked 
by the Indians, who had anticipated their attempt to cross at 
the usual ford, and were prepared to dispute their passage 
at that point, where the advantages of position would have 
been greatly in their favor. 

The Indians had spent the night of the 28th in a drunken 
carousal, and were perhaps on that account less watchful 
than usual. General Clinch had only a canoe to cross 
with, and some of the volunteers swam their horses over, 
but the larger number, under General Call, were still on 
the other side of the river when the attack commenced. 
The force which had crossed consisted of one hundred and 
ninety-five regulars and twenty-seven volunteers, and that 
of the Indians of two hundred and fifty, inclusive of thirty 
negroes, led by Osceola and Alligator. The Indians fought 
bravely, and the fortune of the day hung for some time in 
the balance ; the Indians were protected by a heavy ham- 
mock and scrub, and poured a galling fire upon the troops, 
who charged twice up to the hammock and fell back, until 
at length General Clinch dismounted, addressed his men 
with much feeling, and ordered another charge, which re- 
sulted in the total rout of the enemy. The battle was 
fought within three miles of Osceola's town ; and the Indians, 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



295 



fresh from their victory over Major Dade, fought with im- 
petuosity and great perseverance. The Indian loss in the 
engagement, so far as known, was five killed and several 
wounded. The regulars under General Clinch lost four 
killed and twenty-five wounded, and the volunteers had 
fifteen wounded. General Clinch had a ball through his 
cap and another through his sleeve. The time of the vol- 
unteers being about to expire. General Clinch returned 
with his command to Fort Drane unmolested. The volun- 
teers returned home, and General Clinch was left with but 
one hundred and fifty men to hold the important positions 
of Fort King, Fort Drane, and Micanopy, and to guard the 
wagon-trains which were requisite to supply his troops with 
provisions. 

The settlements in the interior were at once broken up ; 
and the inhabitants gathered in stockades or fled to the 
coast. Below St. Augustine, and in the neighborhood of 
New Smyrna, extensive sugar plantations had been opened. 
During the month of January, 1836, sixteen plantations, 
employing from one hundred to two hundred negroes, were 
entirely destroyed, with all their buildings and improve- 
ments. The country was desolated in every direction, and 
many of the settlers, men, women, and children, were ruth- 
lessly massacred. The Indians made it literally a war to 
the knife. On the 17th of January, Major Putnam went to 
Tomoka in command of two companies of militia ; they 
camped at Dunlawton, and were attacked by a superior 
force of Indians, under King Philip, and compelled to re- 
treat. Seventeen of the volunteers were wounded, two 
mortally, and a son of Hon. Elias B. Gould fell into the 
hands of the Indians and was killed by them. 

The public mind was thoroughly aroused, and volunteers 
came in rapidly from the adjoining States. General Clinch 
w^as authorized to call for and accept any amount of force 



296 HIS TOR V OF FL OR ID A . 

he might require from South Carolina, Georgia, and- 
Alabama. 

General Gaines was on duty at New Orleans at this 
time, with a considerable force of regular troops at his 
command. Upon receiving information of the massacre 
of Major Dade's command, and a report that Fort Brooke, 
on Tampa Bay, was invested by a force of negroes and 
Indians, he deemed the emergency so grave that he ought, 
with the forces at his command, to proceed with all haste 
to the rescue, without awaiting the slow progress of 
official orders from Washington. He dispatched a mes- 
senger to General Clinch, informing him of his inten- 
tion to leave at once for Fort Brooke with seven 
hundred men, and that he would be glad to co-operate 
with General Clinch for the prompt chastisement of the 
Indians. 

General Gaines embarked at New Orleans on the 3d of 
February with a force of eleven hundred men, comprising 
six companies of the 4th Infantry, who were doubtless 
eager to avenge the loss of their comrades in Major Dade's 
command, and a regiment of Louisiana volunteers under 
command of General Persifer Smith. He reached Fort 
Brooke on the loth, and on the 13th commenced a march 
across the country to Fort King. He had no means of 
transportation, and the men carried ten days' rations on 
their backs. On the 20th they reached the scene of the 
Dade massacre, and on the 2 2d of February arrived at Fort 
King, without having seen a hostile Indian, but not with- 
out having been watched and seen by them. At Fort King 
he found one company of artillery, with no surplus pro- 
visions beyond their own rations. General Clinch was at 
Fort Drane, equally unprovided, and General Gaines found 
himself far from any base of supplies, almost out of pro- 
visions. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



297 



. With great chagrin, the generous and gallant soldier and 
his comrades concluded that no other course was left to 
them but to return to Fort Brooke, and, to give a fuller 
exhibition of his force, he concluded to take a return route 
considerably to the west of the one by which he had come 
up, having been assured by his guides that a ford could be 
found lower down the Withlacoochee. On the 27th, he 
reached this river, and, while searching for the ford, the 
Indians opened fire from the opposite bank. The river 
was here some thirty yards wide, deep and rapid. While 
trying to ascertain the depth of the water, Lieutenant Izard 
was mortally wounded. The crossing in face of the enemy 
was found impracticable. Finding a considerable body of 
Indians in front of him. General Gaines sent an express to 
General Clinch, desiring him to bring what force and pro- 
visions he could spare, and co-operate with him in an attack 
upon them. This General Clinch was unable to do, as he 
had been superseded in the command of the forces in 
Florida by General Scott, and was without provisions. 

General Gaines proceeded to strengthen his position, 
while at the same time he prepared rafts for crossing the 
river. On the 29th, a vigorous attack was made upon the 
troops from all sides, which continued for two hours, during 
which one man was killed, and three officers and thirty of 
the men wounded. On the 30th, another express was sent to 
General Clinch, asking for provisions and a reinforcement. 
Upon the receipt of General Gaines's letter, inclosed to 
him by General Clinch, General Scott had written to the 
latter, expressing a considerable amount of pique against 
General Gaines, applying to him the term interloper, and 
saying, ''even if you had sufficient stores and means of 
transportation, I should command you to send no subsist- 
ence to him, unless to prevent starvation." There seems 
to have been a strong personal dislike existing between 



298 



HIS TOR Y OF FL OR ID A. 



General Scott and General Gaines, which interfered with 
prompt relief being furnished to the latter. 

General Clinch, however, on receipt of this second mes- 
sage of General Gaines, and learning the condition of his 
command, gathered some cattle, and, taking stores from his 
own plantation, went, with one hmidred men, to his relief. 

General Gaines was now closely besieged for several 
days; the rations were reduced to a pint of corn per day, 
and they began to consume their horses and dogs. 

General Clinch reached their camp on the 6th of March, 
and on the 9th General Gaines turned over the command 
of his troops to General Clinch, who returned with them 
to Fort Drane on the loth. A talk had been held between 
Captain Hitchcock, of General Gaines's staff, and Osceola, 
Jumper, and Alligator, on the day of General Clinch's 
arrival, in which they had consented to make peace if 
they could be allowed to remain south of the Withlacoo- 
chee. 

General Scott had now assumed the command in Florida, 
and planned a campaign on paper, which he felt satisfied 
would close the war in a single season. 

His plan was to form three wings, which were to move 
simultaneously from Volusia, on the St. John's River, Fort 
Drane, near Orange Lake, about the centre of the penin- 
sula, and Tampa Bay, and to thus inclose the whole Indian 
force supposed to be about the forks of the Withlacoochee. 
Unfortunately, this distinguished military commander was 
not familiar with the nature of the country, or with the 
character of the foe against whom he had to contend. It 
was a very great mistake, as is now generally admitted, to 
supersede General Clinch, who was better calculated than 
any one else, at that time, to operate against the Indians, 
and who had achieved the only decided success which had 
been obtained. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



299 



General Scott's combinations were good only on paper; 
the delays and obstacles inseparable from movements in 
such a country met him at every step. Indians, who could 
slip through the lines in a single night, were not to be 
caught by a trilateral movement. The campaign was a 
failure, and operations closed by the ist of June. This 
was unfortunate, as it left an impression, on the minds of 
the Indians, of the weakness of the government. 

The wings of General Scott's movement had marched 
and countermarched between Fort King and Tampa, but, 
with the exception of a few skirmishes, nothing was ac- 
complished. 

During the summer of 1836, the regulars were ordered 
to summer quarters, and the volunteers returned home. 
General Clinch, disgusted with the treatment he had re- 
ceived at the hands of the War Department, resigned his 
commission and retired to his home at St. Mary's. 

About the middle of March, Major McLemore had been 
ordered to the Suwanee, to procure a quantity of corn and 
proceed with it to the Withlacoochee River, for the use of 
the troops. He executed the order, and erected a small 
block-house, about fifteen miles up the river, and left 
Captain Halliman with a small party to defend it until 
General Scott should send for it. Major McLemore died 
within a few days after making his camp, and his detach- 
ment at the block-house was lost sight of. On the 12th 
of April, the Indians attacked them in large numbers, but 
were spiritedly repulsed. On the 3d of May, Captain Hal- 
liman was shot, and on the 15th and 24th heavy assaults 
were made and the roof of the block-house was burned off. 
The garrison were twenty-eight days subsisting on corn 
alone, and were finally rescued by sending down three men 
in a boat, who reported their situation, and a force was sent 
to relieve them. 



300 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

The Indians pursued their predatory incursions, cutting 
off express-riders and butchering exposed families. In 
June they made an attack upon the post at Micanopy, some 
two hundred or more participating in the affair, but they 
were promptly met by Major Heileman, the gallant officer 
in command, and driven two miles. Major Heileman died 
shortly afterwards, from the effects of overexertion during 
the engagement. - 

In August', a sharp skirmish occurred at Fort Drane, 
between a force of one hundred and ten men, commanded 
by Major Pierce, and three hundred Indians, under com- 
mand of Arpeika. 

On the ist of May, Judge Randall's plantation, east of 
Tallahassee, was attacked and negroes stolen, and on the 
8th hostile Indians appeared near St. Mark's. 

Fort King was abandoned about the last of May. The 
summer of 1836 was a very sickly season, and the troops 
suffered severely at all the posts. Fort Drane was especially 
unhealthy, and was ordered to be abandoned in July. A 
wagon-train, removing the stores from that point with a 
large escort, was attacked near Micanopy, and would prob- 
ably have been captured but for the timely arrival of rein- 
forcements. 

All the settlements east of the St. John's, lying south of 
the Picolata Road, had been destroyed, and all those south 
of Black Creek and Newnansville had been broken up. In 
July, the Indians appeared on the St. John's River, at New 
Switzerland, and attacked the places of Colonel Hallows, 
Dr. Simmons, and Mr. Colt, and destroyed the buildings. 
They afterwards appeared in considerable force at the 
Travers plantation, at the mouth of Black Creek, and a 
sharp skirmish ensued with a detachment under Lieutenant 
Herbert. 

About the last of August the post at Micanopy was 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



301 



broken up, and the whole country between Newnansville 
and Tampa abandoned to the Indians, ;vvho found abundant 
supplies on the deserted plantations. 

In September, the Johns family, seventeen miles west 
from Jacksonville, was attacked, Mr. Johns was killed, 
Mrs. Johns shot and scalped, and the house burned. A 
little later a large force of Indians approached Newnans- 
ville. Colonel Warren marched out to meet them upon 
the edge of San Felasco Hammock, with a force consisting 
of one hundred mounted volunteers, twenty-five citizens, 
and twenty-five United States regulars under Captain Tomp- 
kins, with a twenty-four-pound howitzer. After about two 
hours' fighting, the Indians retreated. 

The command of the army in Florida now devolved 
upon General R. K. Call, of Florida. General Armstrong, 
with a command of twelve hundred Tennesseeans who 
had been operating in the Creek country, was ordered to 
report to General Call for duty in Florida. With these 
troops, one hundred and forty Florida militia, and one 
hundred and sixty regulars under Major Pierce, General 
Call began an offensive movement on the Withlacoochee in 
October, but, being prevented by high water from crossing, 
he fell back upon Fort Drane for supplies. 

In November, General Call, reinforced by some regular 
troops and a regiment of Creek volunteers, advanced again 
to the Withlacoochee, and crossed and attacked an Indian 
encampment, which was broken up and the Indians routed. 
On the 1 8th, five hundred Tennesseeans attacked a con- 
siderable body of the enemy, posted strongly in a ham- 
mock. After two hours' hard fighting, the Indians fled, 
leaving twenty-five dead on the field. On the 20th, Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Pierce, with a detachment of regulars, 
joined General Call. 

The enemy being reported in large numbers in Wahoo 

26 



302 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

vSwamp, an attack was made in that quarter, and an engage- 
ment ensued, lasting several hours. The Indians being 
protected by a creek and deep miry swamp, it was found 
impracticable to dislodge them, and the forces of General 
Call retired again to Fort Drane for supplies. 

This affair ended military operations for the year 1836. 
The result of the year's campaign was well calculated to 
encourage the Indians. They had driven not only the 
citizens but the troops nearly out of the peninsula, and at 
its close held their ground in all quarters. They had 
clearly the advantage thus far. 

In October, General Jesup reached Tampa, and in the 
latter part of November joined General Call at Volusia, 
with four hundred men, and, under instructions of the War 
Department, relieved that officer of the command of the 
army in Florida. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Florida War, continued — General Jesup in Command — Indian Assault 
on Fort Mellon— Capitulation of Fort Dade — Flight of the Indians 
from Fort Brooke — Capture of King Philip, Coacoochee,and Osceola 
— Battle of Okechobee — Escape of Coacoochee — Surrender of Hal- 
leck-Hajo and others — Results of General Jesup's Operations — 
General Taylor appointed to the Command. 

1836-1837. 

General Thomas S. Jesup, upon his assignment to the 
prosecution of the war in Florida, had the experience of 
his predecessors, Generals Scott and Call, to warn him 
against the perils of insufficient preparation and temporary 
and spasmodic movements. Eight thousand troops were 
placed at his disposal, and he prepared for a vigorous cam- 
paign during the winter months, when active movements 
could best be carried on. 

The official reports of all the movements of troops during 
the previous year had based the want of successful pursuit 
upon the want of supplies. General Jesup moved forward 
with rapidity with mounted troops, both officers and men 
carrying their rations in their haversacks, the commanding 
general himself often carrying his own haversack. The 
stronghold of the Indians was in the neighborhood of 
the Withlacoochee, which they had successfully defended 
against every effort to dislodge them. 

Colonel Foster was directed to move up from Tampa and 
approach the west side of the Withlacoochee, and to scour 
the hammocks and swamps, General Jesup himself entering 

(303) 



304 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

the country lying between the forks of the river and the 
heart of the Wahoo Swamp. The Indians saw in these 
movements the indications of a new system of warfare, 
and that their fastnesses on the Withlacoochee were no 
longer tenable. The troops thoroughly explored the region, 
and found the habitations of the Indians but recently 
deserted ; one solitary native was discovered and taken 
prisoner. A careful examination indicated that the In- 
dians had removed to the southeast. 

The term of service of the Tennessee troops, under 
General Armstrong, being about to expire, they were em- 
barked for New Orleans. A strong post was established on 
the Withlacoochee, called Fort Dade, as a depot and post 
of observation in the region which had heretofore been the 
centre of the Indian settlements. 

Having ascertained that the Indians had moved in the 
direction of the Everglades, General Jesup organized several 
detachments to make a vigorous pursuit. On the 23d of 
January, Colonel Canfield, with a detachment of Alabama 
and other troops, attacked Osarchee near Ahapopka Lake. 
The Indian chief and his son were killed, and several 
prisoners taken, but the main body escaped. 

Numerous herds of cattle were found on the Thlo-thlo- 
pop-ka-hatchee Creek, and the Indians were discovered on 
the Hatchee-Lustee Creek, were attacked by the troops, and 
dispersed ; their baggage and a number of their women and 
children were captured. The same evening another camp 
of Indians was dispersed. The troops then moved forward 
and took a strong position on Topelika Lake, and several 
hundred head of cattle were taken on the borders of that 
lake. An Indian prisoner was sent out to invite Abraham, 
the Interpreter, to come into the camp. Abraham shortly 
afterwards made his appearance, and after an interview 
with General Jesup, returned to the nation to induce the 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



305 



chiefs to enter into negotiations. On the 3d of February, 
Abraham returned, with Jumper, Alligator, and Hapatophe. 
The result of the conference was that the Indians expressed 
their desire to treat for peace, and agreed to meet General 
Jesup at Fort Dade, with the other chiefs, on the 6th of 
March, and that in the mean time all hostilities should 
cease. 

With this understanding, General Jesup withdrew from 
further pursuit, and returned to Fort Dade. 

A military post had been established at Fort Mellon, on 
the west side of Lake Monroe, in December, 1836, by 
Colonel Fanning. The post was occupied by two com- 
panies of artillery, a battalion of South Carolina volunteers, 
four companies of dragoons, under Colonel Harney, and a 
detachment of Creeks. The Indian spies had shortly be- 
fore reported that there was but a small force at the fort, 
and King Philip and his son Coacoochee assembled about 
four hundred Seminoles and made an attack at daylight 
on the 8th of February, 1837. The Indians fought with 
great steadiness, against a superior force, for nearly three 
hours, and then retired. Fortunately, the post had re- 
ceived considerable reinforcements a day or two before the 
attack, the arrival of whom was unknown to the Indians. 
Captain Mellon, a veteran officer of the 2d Artillery, 
was killed ; Lieutenant McLaughlin, and fourteen others, 
severely wounded. The Indian loss was said to be about 
twenty-five. 

The Indians had encountered a succession of defeats, 
and were being driven from their fields and homes by a 
superior force. The season for planting was passing away, 
and they had no assurance of being able to obtain pro- 
visions in any quarter during the coming season. From 
conviction of its necessity on the part of some, and from 
policy on the part of others, it was agreed that the chiefs 

26* 



3o6 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



should comply with their agreement to meet General 
Jesup. 

On the 6th of March, the Indians assembled in large 
numbers, with their chiefs, at Fort Dade, and entered into 
articles of capitulation. They agreed that they would cease 
hostilities, and withdraw south of the Hillsborough River, 
and stipulated that they would at once prepare to emigrate 
to the West, in the mean time leaving hostages in the hands 
of the government. 

General Jesup agreed, on behalf of the United States, 
that the Seminoles and their allies who come in to emi- 
grate to the West shall be secure in their lives and prop- 
erty, that their negroes, their bona fide property, should 
accompany them to the West, and that their cattle and 
ponies should be paid for by the United States. 

The capitulation was signed by Jumper, Holatoochee, 
Hoeth Lee Mathlee, Taholoochee, and Cawaya. 

A location about ten miles from Tampa was agreed upon 
as the place of rendezvous of the Indians, preparatory to 
embarkation. 

By the middle of May a considerable number of the 
Indians had arrived at the rendezvous, and some twenty- 
five transports were in readiness to take them to Arkansas. 
They asked for more time, that others belonging to their 
families might come in and accompany them. 

In the mean time, Osceola, Philip, Coacoochee, and Coe- 
Hajo, with a large number of Seminoles, gathered in the 
neighborhood of Fort Mellon, and drew rations from the 
government, preparing, as they said, to emigrate. 

In consequence of the prevalence of sickness at Fort 
Mellon, that post was abandoned, and subsequently Volusia 
was evacuated from the same cause. 

The war was considered at an end. Arrangements were 
made for withdrawing the troops to healthier localities. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



307 



The settlers prepared to reoccupy their abandoned homes, 
and others were ready to move into the country. • 

On the 2d of June, Osceola, at the head of two hundred 
Miccosukies, came to the camp of the Indians, near Tampa, 
and either forced or persuaded the whole number, upwards 
of seven hundred, to leave the camp and seek their fast- 
nesses down towards the Everglades. All the hostages took 
flight with the rest, and Abraham, the Interpreter, was the 
only one who remained. 

Various reasons for their flight were given. One was, 
that a report was spread among the Indians that when they 
were all embarked their throats were to be cut. Another, 
given by Osceola, was their fear of the smallpox, the 
measles having broken out among the soldiers at the fort. 

At the time the troops left Fort Mellon, Colonel Harney 
said to Coacoochee that unless the Indians complied with 
the treaty the United States would exterminate them. The 
young chief replied that the Great Spirit might extermin- 
ate them, but the pale-faces could not, else why had they 
not done it before? 

It is supposed by some, and probably by very many, that 
this treaty of capitulation, entered into by the Indians with 
General Jesup, was, from the outset, a mere ruse and device 
to gain time to plant their fields, and to delay operations 
against them until the warm season should, as in the pre- 
vious year, force the troops to suspend their movements. 
This is, however, a supposition drawn from the event 
rather than from any evidence of prior intentions. The 
Indians, to the number of seven hundred, did come in, 
and could at any moment have been placed on the trans- 
ports. Many of them, including Micanopy, their head- 
chief, were thoroughly satisfied that they could not with- 
stand the power of the government of the United States. 
The younger chiefs, at the head of whom was Osceola, 



3o8 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



undoubtedly were treacherous, and anxious to defeat the 
emigration project, and their leader was reckless enough to 
be willing to abide the consequences, and he had influence 
enough to give currency and effect to the two absurd stories 
wdiich have been mentioned. There was another influence 
at work which did much, undoubtedly, to induce the break- 
ing of the stipulations of the Indians for removal. Many 
negroes had taken refuge with the Indians, and were now 
liable to be returned to their owners if the emigration 
should take place. They had, therefore, every motive to 
induce them to use their influence with the Indians to pre- 
vent the carrying out of the capitulation agreed upon. 

General Jesup, on the 5th of April, 1837, issued his order 
No. 79, -in which he says, — 

"The commanding general has reason to believe that 
the interference of unprincipled white men with the negro 
property of the Seminole Indians, if not immediately 
checked, will prevent their emigration and lead to a re- 
newal of the war. Responsible as he is for the peace and 
security of the country, he will not permit such interference 
under any pretense whatever ; and he therefore orders that no 
white man, not in the service of the United States, be al- 
lowed to enter any part of the Territory between the St. 
John's River and the Gulf of Mexico, south of Fort Drane." 

Many persons were desirous of identifying and reclaim- 
ing their slaves, and this order, which seemed to have both 
the purpose and effect of depriving them of the power of 
obtaining their property, was looked upon as arbitrary and 
oppressive. 

When it was known that the Indians had fled from their 
camp at Tampa, great consternation prevailed through the 
country, and the planters, taught by former experience of 
their insecurity, abandoned their crops and sought refuge 
near the military posts. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



309 



In June, the Indians killed Captain Walton, the keeper 
of the light-ship on Carysfort Reef, and one of his men. 
About the same time, Captain Gilliland was murdered near 
Ichatuckny Spring. 

General Jesup now determined to prosecute the campaign 
with effect as soon as the season would permit the resump- 
tion of active operations. Volunteers were called for from 
Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, and 
Kentucky. On the 24th of October he issued a general 
order, in which he recites the success attending his pre- 
vious operations in the field. He truly says, ''When the 
army took the field in December, the enemy's strongholds 
were on Orange Lake, Ocklawaha, Withlacoochee, Aunu- 
tiliga Hammock ; they are now south of Lake Monroe and 
Tampa Bay. The permanent results of the campaign are 
thirty Indians and negroes killed, and upwards of five hun- 
dred prisoners taken." 

On the 4th of September, 1837, several negroes sur- 
rendered near Fort Peyton. In consequence of informa- 
tion obtained from them. General Hernandez, with the 
forces under his command, proceeded south, and captured 
two camps of Indians and negroes ; among the Indians 
were several chiefs, one of the most important of whom was 
King Philip, called Emathla. Philip desired to send a mes- 
sage to his family, and an Indian having been sent returned 
with Coacoochee, known better as Wild Cat, a son of Philip, 
who offered to bring in many others. On the 1 7th of Oc- 
tober, Wild Cat returned, and said that about one hundred 
Indians and as many negroes were on their way in. Gen- 
eral Hernandez met them at Pellicier Creek, and directed 
them to encamp at Fort Peyton. On the 20th, Osceola 
and Coe-Hajo sent word they had camped near the fort, 
and desired to see General Hernandez. Upon the ground 
that these chiefs and Indians had all capitulated at Fort 



3IO HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

Dade in March previous, and that Osceola had brought in 
his family to Fort Mellon and received rations for his band, 
General Jesup directed General Hernandez to make pris- 
oners of them and bring them to St. Augustine. Osceola 
afterwards sought an interview with General Jesup, and 
told him that Micanopy and Jumper, with the greater part 
of the Seminoles, were ready to execute the treaty, and 
asked that messengers might be sent to them and to their 
own people. 

On the Tst of December, 1837, General Jesup had under 
his command about nine thousand men, of whom one-half 
were regulars.* 

The principal Indian force was on the Upper St. John's, 
except some roving bands through the peninsula. The troops 
under General Jesup were assigned to duty as follows : 
Colonel P. F. Smith, on the Calosahatchee, and to operate 
as far south as Cape Sable ; General Taylor was directed to 
proceed from Tampa Bay eastwardly, and establish posts at 
the head of Pease Creek and on Lake Kissimee, and to the 
St. John's River and Lake Okechobee. General Taylor 
moved out from Tampa on the 14th of December with a 
force of about eleven hundred, and proceeded to the neigh- 
borhood of Lake Okechobee, where he found a large 
Indian force, occupying a dense hammock, and protected 
by a miry saw-grass pond in front of them. With great 
gallantry, and under great disadvantages of position, 
the troops charged the enemy, and, after a hard-fought 
battle, routed them, but at a heavy loss. Lieutenant-Col- 
onel Thompson, Captain J. Van Swearingen, Lieutenant 
Francis Brooke, and Second-Lieutenant J. P. Center, of the 
6th Infantry, also Colonel Gentry, of the Missouri Volun- 
teers, and twenty-two privates were killed. Nine officers 



General Jesup's General Report, July 6, 1838. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 311 

and one hundred and two men were wounded. The Indians 
were commanded by Alligator, Arpeika, Coacoochee, and 
Halleck-Tustenuggee, and numbered about four hundred. 
Eleven Indians and one negro were killed, and nine 
wounded. The troops fell back after the battle to Tampa. 

General Hernandez moved down with his force to Indian 
River and the head of the St. John's. The result of his 
operations was two Indians killed, and two hundred and 
ninety-seven Indians and negroes taken prisoners. 

Brigadier-General Nelson operated along the coast of the 
Gulf, along the Suwanee River, and in Middle Florida. 
In the course of his operations he killed six Indians, and 
took fourteen prisoners. Colonel Snodgrass was assigned 
to the occupation of the country south of Black Creek and 
west of the St. John's, between that river and the Ockla- 
waha. He destroyed several Indian villages, and expelled 
the Indians from that region. Other officers were con- 
stantly moving with detachments, and scouring the country 
in all directions. 

A Cherokee deputation, headed by John Ross, was sent 
into Florida to persuade the Seminoles to surrender. Their 
mission^ according to General Jesup, was not only useless, 
but injurious, by the loss of valuable time and the suspension 
of active operations in the field. Coe-Hajo was sent out as 
a guide to the Cherokees, and returned with many of his 
people, accompanied by the Cherokees and the Seminole 
chiefs Micanopy, Cloud, Toskegee, and Nocase Yoholo, 
with fifteen or twenty of their followers. A council was held ; 
the chiefs agreed to fulfill their treaty, and sent messengers 
to collect their people and bring them to camp. The Indians 
failed to come in, the few who had accompanied the chiefs 
silently withdrew, and the Indians again scattered. 

The failure to complete these negotiations was attributed 
to the escape of Wild Cat from the fort at St. Augustine, 



312 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

with seventeen of his followers. This chief, with a consid- 
erable number of other Indians, had been confined within 
the old Spanish fort for security. They occupied a room 
on the west side of the fort, immediately adjoining the 
southwest bastion. A narrow embrasure gave light and air 
to the room. The embrasure was some twenty-five feet 
above the ditch or moat, which was dry at all times. Coa- 
coochee conceived the idea of squeezing through this nar- 
row aperture and descending into the moat, where he would 
find himself at once at liberty. The task was easily enough 
accomplished, and with very little risk. Once at liberty, 
he hastened to rejoin the Indians in the southern part of the 
peninsula, and, exasperated by the treatment he had re- 
ceived, used every influence to prevent the submission of 
the Seminoles. The active operations of the large body of 
troops had harassed the Indians greatly, and the difficulty 
of providing places of security for their women and chil- 
dren, and of transporting provisions for their sustenance 
in the winter season, had greatly discouraged them. 

By establishing depots of supplies on the Upper St. 
John's and at strong posts between Tampa and Lake 
Monroe, General Eustis was enabled to penetrate the re- 
gion lying on the northern margin of the Everglades, and 
many Indian settlements were broken up. General Taylor 
in the course of his operations captured and secured four 
hundred and eighty-four Indians and negroes. The battle 
of Okechobee was a hard-fought engagement, and reflected 
great credit upon the bravery of the troops, who marched 
through a deep morass against a foe concealed and pro- 
tected from their fire; but it was a victory gained at a 
heavy cost, and the result, it would seem, might have 
been attained in an easier way. The comparatively slight 
loss inflicted on the Indians, and their ready escape, 
would naturally impress them with a consciousness of their 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 313 

great advantages in this kind of warfare. Okechobee was 
the last general fight in which the Indians engaged. They 
ever afterwards avoided all engagements, and trusted to 
the climate, the swamps and morasses, and the almost in- 
vincible natural obstacles of their country, to fight their 
battles for them. 

During the summer, General Eustis and other officers 
urged upon General Jesup the propriety of closing the war, 
by allowing the Indians to remain within a small territory 
in the southern part of the peninsula. Colonel Twiggs 
afterwards, with other superior officers, called upon Gen- 
eral Eustis, and urged upon him the same views. Anxious 
as they all were to get out of a region in which they ex- 
perienced the most extreme hardships, without the com- 
pensation of even military glory or the excitement of 
success, it was very natural that they should see no objec- 
tion to a peace on such terms as would relieve that part of 
the country which was habitable and desirable from this 
inconsiderable Indian tribe, and confine them to an almost 
insular location, where their presence would injure no one, 
leaving it to the government to decide, at some future 
period, when the neccesity existed for their removal. As 
they diminished in numbers, and retreated farther to the 
south, the more difficult became their pursuit. 

In February, 1838, impressed with these views, General 
Jesup, at that time encamped near Jupiter Inlet, sent ''a 
messenger to the Indians, to offer them peace," but deter- 
mined, he says, " on no account to grant them the privi- 
lege of remaining in the country, unless the measure should 
be sanctioned by the general government.'"'' 

Halleck-Hajo and Toskegee came in and had a confer- 
ence with General Jesup, and, after discussion, it was 

* General Jesup's Report of July 6, 1838. 
27 



314 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

agreed that the Indians should come into camp near Fort 
Jupiter within ten days, and await the decision of the 
President whether they should remain in the country.* 

A considerable number of Indians and negroes came in 
under this arrangement. General Jesup communicated to 
the War Department the propositions which had been 
made, and urged that the requisite permission should be 
given. 

Secretary Poinsett replied, under date of March i, 
1838, saying that, however desirable such an arrangement 
might be, it could not be sanctioned, as it was the duty of 
the President to carry out the provisions of the treaty. f 
This communication reached General Jesup about the 20th 
of March, and, as he was satisfied that if the decision of 
the War Department was known to the Indians they would 
at once retire to the swamps, he called a council to be held 
on the 2 2d March, and, in the mean time, directed Colonel 
Twiggs to secure the Indians. Colonel Twiggs promptly 
executed the order, securing five hundred and thirteen In- 
dians and one hundred and sixty-five negroes. Passac- 
Micco and fourteen others escaped capture. 

The Indians and negroes secured at Jupiter were at once 
transferred, under a strong guard, to Tampa Bay. Those 
who had been previously secured at Fort Peyton, with 
Osceola (Powell), had been transferred to Fort Moultrie, 
in Charleston harbor. 

It seems proper here to take some special notice of this 
distinguished leader of the Seminoles, whose name and repu- 
tation stand perhaps higher in public estimation than those 
of any other of his race. His true Indian name was As-se- 
se-ha-ho-lar, or Black Drink, but he was commonly called 

* General Jesup' s Report of July 6, 1838. 
f Sprague, p. 201. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



315 



Osceola, or Powell. He belonged to a Creek tribe called Red 
Sticks, and was a half-breed. He removed to Florida with 
his mother when a child, and lived near Fort King. At 
the beginning of the Florida war he was about thirty-one 
years of age, of medium size, being about five feet eight 
inches in height, resolute and manly in his bearing, with a 
clear, frank, and engaging countenance. He was undoubt- 
edly the master-spirit of the war, and by his firmness and 
audacity forced the nation into the war which a large ma- 
jority were averse to engaging in, and either broke up every 
attempt at negotiations or prevented their fulfillment. He 
was to have been one of the leaders at Dade's massacre, 
but was detained at Fort King by his determination to 
gratify his revenge upon General Thompson. He parti- 
cipated in the battles at the ford of the Withlacoochee 
and Camp Izard, and led the attack upon Micanopy, where, 
with his force of less than two hundred and fifty men, 
within sight of the fort, he attacked upwards of one hun- 
dred regular troops in an open field, supported by a field- 
piece. 

His capture by General Hernandez was due to his 
audacity and self-confidence. Bad faith, and a disregard 
of the usages of civilization, have been imputed to General 
Jesup on this occasion, Osceola having come in under a 
white flag to negotiate ; but that ofiicer contended that 
Osceola had broken his faith in reference to the Fort 
Dade capitulation, and was to be treated as an escaped 
prisoner. 

From all that can be gathered of his character, Osceola 
was possessed of nobler traits than usually belong to his 
race. His manners were dignified and courteous, and upon 
the field he showed himself a brave and cautious leader. 
It is said that he instructed his people in their preda- 
tory excursions to spare the women and children. ''It is 



3i6 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



not," said he, ''upon them that we make war and draw 
the scalping-knife. It is upon men. Let us act like men." 
Osceola has furnished to the poet, to the novelist, and to 
the lover of romance^ a most attractive subject, and scarce 
any limit has been placed to the virtues attributed or the 
exploits imagined in connection with this renowned chief 
of the Seminoles. A poet has sung of him, — 

" His features are clothed with a warrior's pride, 
And he moves with a monarch's tread ; 
He smiles with joy, as the flash of steel 
Through the Everglades' grass is seen." 

Upon his removal to Charleston he became dejected and 
low-spirited, and gradually pined away. All efforts to in- 
terest him in a Western home failed to arouse him, and in 
a few weeks he died of a broken heart, and was buried 
just outside of the principal gateway of Fort Moultrie, 
where his resting-place is inclosed and a monument 
erected. 

Major Lauderdale, with a company of the 3d Artillery 
and two hundred Tennessee volunteers, explored the coun- 
try south, and established a post at New River. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Bankhead, with an additional force, joined Major 
Lauderdale, entered the Everglades, and captured Pahase- 
Micco, a sub-chief of Micco, with a band of forty-seven 
persons, and went in pursuit of Arpeika and his followers. 
After wading through the mud and water for many miles, 
they found the Indians upon an island, but were unable to 
prevent their escape. Afterwards, Colonel Harney came 
up with Arpeika below Key Biscayne, and attacked him, 
but was unable to pursue him. General Jesup crossed from 
Fort Jupiter to Tampa Bay in April, 1837, to attack the 
Miccosukies and Tallahassees, near the mouth of the With- 
lacoochee, when the troops were ordered to the Cherokee 
country and General Jesup was relieved from the command. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



317 



This officer is entitled to great credit for the energy and 
perseverance with which he performed his duties. After he 
assumed command, there was no longer the complaint of a 
want of supplies, or the report of falling back in conse- 
quence of being short of rations. Within the year and a 
half during which he held command, the number of Indians 
and negroes altogether who surrendered or were taken 
amounted to nineteen hundred and seventy-eight, twenty- 
three of whom escaped. The number of Indians and 
negroes taken and killed by the different detachments of 
the army were equal' to four hundred, making the whole 
number twenty-four hundred, of whom seven hundred 
were warriors, — considerably exceeding the entire esti- 
mated number of Indians in the country at the beginning 
of the war. 

General Jesup also reported, what he believed to be true, 
but was only so in part, that the villages of the Indians 
had all been destroyed, and their cattle, horses, and other 
stock captured or destroyed, and that the small bands who 
remained dispersed over the Territory had nothing left but 
their rifles.* 

The Indians who had been captured or had surrendered 
were now placed on transports, under charge of Lieutenant 
J. F. Reynolds, and removed west of Arkansas. Twelve 
hundred and twenty-nine constituted the first party, which 
emigrated in May, 1837. In June, another party of three 
hundred and thirty was sent to the same destination. 
Captain Stephenson was appointed their agent West. 

On the 15th of May, 1837, General Jesup retired from 
the command in Florida, which then devolved upon Gen- 
eral Zachary Taylor. 

* Report of General Jesup to the War Department, Ex. Doc., 8th 
vol., 2(1 Sess,, 25th Cong. 

27* 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Florida War, continued, under General Taylor — Removal of Apalachee 
Indians — General Macomb's Treaty with the Indians — Proclamation 
that the War was ended — Resumption of Hostilities — Massacre of 
Colonel Harney's Detachment — Tragical Fate of Mrs. Montgomery 
— The Cuba Bloodhounds — Expedition of Colonel Worth to Oke- 
chobee — Recapture of Coacoochee. 

1838— 1842. 

The first important action of General Taylor after assum- 
ing command was the removal of some two hundred and 
twenty Apalachee Indians from West Florida, in October, 
1838. The winter campaign of 1838-39 was arranged by 
General Taylor by districting the country under separate, 
commanders. Lieutenant-Colonel Green was left in Mid- 
dle Florida ; Colonel Twiggs, with about two regiments, 
was stationed between the Santa Fe River and the coast, 
and directed to occupy both sides of the St. John's River 
to Lake Monroe ; Colonel Davenport, with six companies, 
was placed to look after the enemy between the Suwanee 
and Withlacoochee Rivers and along the Gulf coast; Major 
Loomis was to operate from Okechobee, south, in concert 
with General Floyd, commanding a force of mounted 
Georgians; and Colonel Cummings, with four companies 
of 3d Artillery, was to establish posts, twenty miles apart, 
between Tampa and Fort Mellon. 

The winter of 1838-39 was spent by the troops in active 
service in the endeavor to hunt out from their hiding- 
places the small Indian bands scattered through the coun- 
try, but with little success, as the Indians, by their better 
knowledge of the country, were enabled to avoid their pur- 
(318) 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



3^9 



suers. Occasionally their settlements were reached and 
broken up, but few of the Indians were seen. 

During the operations of this campaign, one hundred 
and ninety-six Indians and negroes surrendered or were 
captured, and sent West. 

The policy of the Indians was now, says General Taylor, 
to avoid giving battle to regular troops, even in single 
companies, while, at the same time, every opportunity was 
seized to wreak their vengeance on the unarmed inhab- 
itants of the country. Moving by night, rapidly, in small 
squads, they were able to appear unexpectedly in remote 
parts of the country, their presence indicated only by their 
rifles and shrill yells as they approached at daylight the 
home of some unsuspecting settler. Murders were com- 
mitted by the Indians within a few miles of Tallahassee 
and St. Augustine. 

Discouraged at the failure of his efforts either to find the 
Indians or bring them to a stand, General Taylor adopted 
the plan of dividing the whole country into squares, and 
placing a block-house, with a small detachment, in each, a 
part of the number to be mounted. The officer command- 
ing was to scout his district every alternate day, thoroughly 
examining the swamps and hammocks to see that they were 
clear of Indians. The merits of this plan were not tested, 
as it was never fully carried out. While the posts were 
being established, it was the misfortune of Florida to have 
Major-General Macomb sent out by the President "to 
make an arrangement with the Seminoles." General Ma- 
comb arrived at Fort King on the 20th of May, 1839, and 
runners were sent out to invite the Indian chiefs in to hold 
a grand council. 

Halleck-Tustenuggee and Tiger-Tail were present, and 
Sam Jones sent Chitto-Tustenuggee as his representative. 
Halleck-Tustenuggee was the mouth-piece of the Indians, 



320 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

and said they were willing to enter into terms if they were 
not required to go to Arkansas. 

An arrangement was entered into by General Macomb 
with the Indians, assigning them temporarily to a portion 
of the country below Pease Creek and Lake Okechobee; 
that they should have sixty days to remove within said 
limits, where they were to remain until further arrange- 
ments were made ; and they were forbidden to pass out of 
such limits, and all other persons were forbidden to go 
within their boundary. 

General Macomb reported to the Secretary of War that 
the Indians at the council, when he explained to them who 
he was, and dictated terms of peace, which they readily 
accepted, manifested great joy, ''and they have since been 
dancing and singing, according to their fashion, in token 
of friendship and peace, in which many of our officers 
joined them, being satisfied of the sincerity of the respect- 
ive parties."* 

General Macomb, on the i8th of May, issued his general 
orders, announcing that 

''The major-general commanding in chief has the satis- 
faction of announcing to the army in Florida, to the au- 
thorities of the Territory, and to the citizens generally, 
that he has this day terminated the war with the Seminole 
Indians by an agreement entered into with Chitto-Tuste- 
nuggee, etc."t 

The termination of the war being thus so authoritatively 
announced, and the terms being so favorable to the Indians, 
conceding, as they did to them, the privilege of remaining 
in Florida, and being virtually a capitulation and surrender 
on the part of the United States of the point at issue, — 

•^ General Macomb's Report of May 22d, 1839. 
f Sprague, p. 228. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 321 

the question of emigration to the West, — the citizens were 
led to believe that the war had indeed been closed. Many- 
prepared to return to their devastated fields, hoping to 
make at least a partial crop. All were glad to be relieved 
of the terror and apprehension of the last three years, and 
to escape from the restraint of their "forted" villages. 

The month of June was quiet and undisturbed, and 
public confidence increased. General Macomb returned 
to Washington, and General Taylor resumed command. 
The season for active operations by the troops had passed, 
when, early in July, the Indians began hostilities in all 
parts of the country. Plantations were attacked, and the 
settlers forced to leave everything behind them. Express- 
and post-riders and travelers were shot down on the roads, 
and a feeling of general insecurity revived. 

Colonel Harney had gone down to Charlotte Harbor to 
establish a trading-post for the Indians after they should 
have retired beyond Pease Creek. His detachment con- 
sisted of twenty-five men of the 2d Dragoons, with the 
store-keeper, Mr. Dalham, and Mr. Morgan, his clerk. 
They were encamped in the open pine barren near the 
Calosahatchee, about twenty miles from the mouth. At 
daybreak on the 2 2d of July they were attacked by some 
two hundred and fifty Indians, led by Chechika and Billy 
Bowlegs. Many were killed at the encampment ; others ran 
to the river, and were shot in the water. Colonel Harney 
escaped in his shirt and drawers only, and swam to a fishing- 
smack lying down the river. Out of thirty men, eighteen 
were killed. The two negro interpreters, Sandy and Sam- 
son, were taken prisoners. Sandy was killed next day, and 
Samson kept prisoner for two years. 

The Indians had, up to the time of the attack, professed 
to be very friendly, coming into camp every day, and talk- 
ing with the men, professing to be entirely satisfied with 
the treaty. 



322 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



Upon receipt of the intelligence of this attack, Lieuten- 
ant Hanson seized forty-six Seminoles, who had come in 
for provisions, and shipped them to Charleston. 

This fiasco of a treaty made by General Macomb was 
due to the action of Congress, which had passed a resolu- 
tion to that effect, and made an appropriation for that pur- 
pose. It was an unfortunate interference, and protracted 
the war, while it fruitlessly placed the government in a 
humiliating position. 

The prosecution of the war became now extremely dis- 
couraging, and the end seemed further off than three years 
before. The Indians had become familiarized with the ex- 
hibition of military power, and had learned to contemn 
it. They found themselves at the close of four years still 
in possession of the country, and powerful for annoyance 
and to inflict revenge, and their ferocity seemed to increase 
with its exercise. 

Governor Reid, in his message to the Legislature of 
Florida, in 1839, said, — 

'' The efforts of the general and territorial governments 
to quell the Indian disturbances which have prevailed 
through four years, have been unavailing. The close of 
the fifth year will find us struggling in a contest remarkable 
for magnanimity, forbearance, and credulity on the one 
side, and ferocity and bad faith on the other. We are 
waging a war with beasts of prey ; the tactics that belong 
to civilized nations are but shackles and fetters in its pros- 
ecution ; we must fight 'fire with fire ;' the white man must, 
in a great measure, adopt the mode of warfare pursued by 
the red man, and we can only hope for success by continu- 
ally harassing and pursuing the enemy. If we drive him 
from hammock to hammock, from swamp to swamp, and 
penetrate the recesses where his women and children are 
hidden ; if, in self-defense, we show as little mercy to him 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 323 

as he has shown to us, the anxiety and surprise produced 
by such operations will not, it is believed, fail to produce 
prosperous results. 

''It is high time that sickly sentimentality should cease. 
'Lo, the poor Indian!' is the exclamation of the fanatic 
pseudo-philanthropist. ' Lo, the poor white man !' is the 
ejaculation which all will utter who have witnessed the in- 
human butchery of women and children, and the massacres 
that have drenched the Territory in blood." 

The citizens and troops had now become so exasperated 
against the Indians for their repeated massacres of the 
feeble and the unprotected that a feeling had grown up that 
they were deserving of extermination, and that any and 
every means should be used to hunt and capture or de- 
stroy them. The great difficulty in so wide an extent of 
country, abounding in thick hammocks, palmetto and 
scrubby lands, swamps, islands, and morasses, was to pur- 
sue them successfully. 

In July, 1838, General Taylor forwarded to the War 
Department a communication he had received on the sub- 
ject of procuring bloodhounds from Cuba, to ad the army 
in its operations against the Indians in Florida. General 
Taylor says, ''I am decidedly in favor of the measure, and 
beg leave to urge it as the only means of ridding the coun- 
try of the Indians, who are now broken up into small parties, 
that take shelter in swamps and hammocks as the army 
approaches, making it impossible for us to follow or over- 
take them without the aid of such auxiliaries. ... I 
wish it distinctly understood that my object in employing 
dogs is only to ascertain where the Indians can be found, 
not to worry them." 

An agent was sent to Cuba to procure bloodhounds, in 
December, 1839, and brought thirty-three, with five Span- 
iards to manage them, at a cost of about one hundred and 



324 



HISTORY OF FLO R DA. 



fifty dollars for each hound. They did not answer the 
purpose, and they were soon discarded ; but in the mean 
time the subject had been taken up in Congress, and a 
resolution of inquiry passed requiring a report from the 
Secretary of War, and the employment of these blood- 
hounds was used as political capital against Mr. Van Buren 
when a candidate for re-election as President. 

There was a body of Spanish Indians inhabiting the 
lower part of the peninsula, who had not heretofore taken 
any part in the contest, but, finding the Seminoles driven 
down into their region, and probably urged by the savages, 
who seemed now to have acquired an insatiate thirst for 
blood, they attacked various settlements upon the islands 
along the coast, murdered wrecked seamen, and waged war 
against the fishermen who had frequented the coast for years. 
One of the most notable of these attacks was made, at Indian 
Key, upon the family of Dr. Perrine, a botanist of distinc- 
tion, who was devoting himself to the cultivation of tropical 
plants. A large party of Indians attacked the settlement 
on the yth of August, 1840, and plundered and then burned 
the houses. Mrs. Perrine and her children were saved by 
concealing themselves under a wharf. The doctor was 
massacred in the upper part of the house. The family 
got possession of a boat which the Indians were loading 
with plunder, and pushed off to a vessel in the harbor. 
Several others escaped to the same vessel.* 

General Taylor, having now been in command for two 
years, asked to be relieved from the arduous position he 
had so faithfully filled. On the 6th of May, 1840, Brevet 
Brigadier-General W. R. Armistead, 3d Artillery, was 
assigned to the command. 



* In Sprague's History, p. 244, will be found a very interesting ac- 
count of the escape of the Perrine family. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



325 



Fruitless expeditions marched out and returned, and 
failed to find the enemy. The -work of surprise and mas- 
sacre still went on by invisible bands, who struck the blow 
and disappeared. The country was discouraged, the troops 
were disheartened, and the Indians remained unmolested. 
Instructions had been given to endeavor to procure amica- 
ble relations. An interview was obtained at one time with 
Halleck-Tustenuggee, through a Seminole delegation which 
had been brought from the West, but which accomplished 
nothing towards bringing matters into a more satisfactory 
state. Occasionally the Indians came in, professed friend- 
ship, said they were tired of the war, received subsistence, 
and then suddenly disappeared, having obtained all they 
came for. 

On the 28th of December, 1840, Lieutenant Sherwood 
started from the military post at Micanopy, in company 
with Lieutenant N. Hopson, a sergeant, and ten privates 
of the 7th Infantry, to escort Mrs. Montgomery, the wife 
of Major Montgomery, to the military post at Wacahootee, 
ten miles distant. About four miles from Micanopy they 
were' suddenly fired on by a large party of Indians, con- 
cealed in a hammock which skirted the road. Two privates 
were killed at the first fire. Lieutenant Sherwood deter- 
mined to stand his ground, and requested Mrs. Montgom- 
ery to dismount and get into the wagon, where she would 
be less exposed. As she was dismounting, she was shot 
through the breast. Lieutenant Hopson returned to Mica- 
nopy for reinforcements. Lieutenant Sherwood and his 
men continued a gallant hand-to-hand fight, until they 
were overpowered by the greatly superior force of the 
Indians. The latter were led by Halleck-Tustenuggee and 
Cosa-Tustenuggee, and consisted of thirty warriors. 

Cosa-Tustenuggee, fearing the consequences of this bar- 
barous act, prepared to conie in and surrender, when he 



326 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



encountered a detachment of dragoons, by whom his whole 
band, consisting of thirty-two warriors and sixty women 
and children, were brought in, and the party shortly after 
sent to Arkansas. '*' 

This tragic event roused anew the indignation of the 
whole country at the manner in which this miserable war 
was being carried on, and there sprung up a universal de- 
mand to have it brought to a close and the Indians driven 
out. The War Department rescinded the instructions to 
the commander to urge the Indians to an amicable surren- 
der, and directed him to prosecute the war. Congress, on 
the I St of January, made an appropriation of one hundred 
thousand dollars for the benefit of such of the Indians as 
might be willing to surrender, and, on the 3d of March, 
appropriated upwards of one million of dollars for sup- 
pressing Indian hostilities in Florida. 

The Indians were now occupying all parts of the Terri- 
tory ; some on the Ocklockonee, some near the Okefinokee 
Swamp, and some in their old hiding-places on Orange 
Lake and the Withlacoochee. 

Lieutenant Alburtis was in command of Fort Russell, 
west of Pilatka, when a party headed by Halleck-Tuste- 
nuggee killed a corporal and approached the fort with yells 
of defiance. A spirited attack by Lieutenant Alburtis 
with some seventeen men only resulted in killing three 
Indians and wounding two. 

Waxehadjo, who had been a leader in waylaying the ex- 
press-riders and others, had killed the express from Fort 
Cross to Tampa Bay, and, after torture, had cut off the head 
of the unfortunate man and set it upright on the coals of 
his camp-fire, when a detachment of dragoons, with Captain 
Lloyd Beall, came up and drove him into a pond, where he 
was killed. 

'^ Spraguc, p. 249. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 327 

Billy Bowlegs, the Prophet, and Hospetarkee, Shiver 
and Shakes, were the head-men of a large party of Semi- 
noles who occupied the country south of Pease Creek. In 
December, 1840, Colonel Harney, with a detachment of 
one hundred men, penetrated this hitherto -unexplored 
region in canoes, and created much alarm among the occu- 
pants of this almost inaccessible portion of the country. 
Chekika, the Spanish Indian chief, was overtaken by a 
detachment of troops and killed, and six of his companions 
captured and hung on the spot, and, it is said, their bodies 
were suspended from the trees. 

This expedition, and the summary punishment inflicted 
by Colonel Harney, greatly intimidated the Indians, and 
they resorted to their old expedient of having a ^'talk" 
and expressing a strong desire for peace and amity. As 
their sincerity could only be tested by the result, their 
offers were accepted, and they came in and received cloth- 
ing and subsistence, thus gaining time to plant their fields 
and devise new measures of security for their families. 
During the winter and spring, every day they couJd delay 
operations against them was important. In April, having 
accomplished their purposes, they again disappeared, leav- 
ing the baffled officers of the government to speculate once 
more on the uncertainty of Indian professions. 

Major Belknap, stationed at Fort Fanning on the Suwa- 
nee, succeeded, during the month of March, 1840, in 
securing, and sending West, Echo-E-Mathlar, the Talla- 
hassee chief, with sixty of his band. 

During the early summer, the old artifice of professing 
to be tired of fighting and willing to emigrate was practiced 
successfully by small bands of Indians, who would come 
in with a tale of starvation and ask for subsistence for 
their families to enable them to reach the military posts. 
The anxiety of the officers of the government to get them 



328 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



in, made them hopeful and desirous of availing themselves 
of every offer of surrender, and induced them to extend 
the time and allow still further subsistence. Thus, by 
cunningly devised stories and well-invented excuses, they 
drew their subsistence from the government until they 
were able to dispense with it and the season was too late 
to operate against them. 

The Territory was divided into seven military districts, 
extending from Black Creek to Sarasota, each under the 
charge of a district commander. Five years had elapsed, 
and still the Indians remained, and the government was 
in the position of almost a suppliant for peace. The efforts 
of the troops against the Indians were evaded by the exer- 
cise of the utmost caution and cunning. With the sagacity 
and thorough wood-craft of natives of the forest, while the 
white soldier was plodding his weary way dependent upon 
guides or the compass for a knowledge of his route, the 
Indian stopped behind some clump of bushes or peered 
forth from some leafy covert and saw his pursuers pass by, 
and then stole back to attack some point in the rear of 
the pursuing troops, which had been left unprotected. 
Ill success brought, naturally, criticism and wholesale 
censure. Those who knew least were wisest in such mat- 
ters, and had always a plan which, if adopted, would 
infallibly succeed. Constant changes of plans, of officers, 
and of troops, made matters worse. An uncertain policy, 
holding out the olive-branch at one time, and fire and sword 
at another, alternately coaxing and threatening, gave to the 
Indians a feeling of distrust mingled with contempt. They 
thought that they had been deceived by fair words and 
false professions, and they used the same means to further 
their own purposes. 

In January, 1841, offensive operations were resumed. 
Colonel William J. Worth, of the 8th Infantry, had been 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 329 

placed in command of the district of which Tampa was 
the headquarters, and about the ist of February a battalion 
of the 8th Infantry, under General Worth, moved out to 
the Kissimee. The country was found overflowed in all 
directions. Believing that Coacoochee, the most active 
and enterprising of the Indian chiefs, was in that region, 
and that some arrangement might be made through him, a 
messenger was sent to find and, if possible, bring him in. 
A few days afterwards, he visited the camp, arrayed in a 
gorgeous theatrical costume obtained a few months pre- 
viously when he had attacked a company of actors on 
the Picolata Road six miles from St. Augustine, several of 
whom were killed and their theatrical wardrobe became a 
valuable booty to the handsome young Indian chief. 

At this interview with General Worth he agreed to con- 
sult his followers and other chiefs, and return in ten days. 
On the tenth day he returned, regretting that he could not 
collect his people, but wished to see General Armistead at 
Tampa Bay, to appoint a day when he would have his 
people assembled. On the 2 2d of March, he came to Fort 
Brooke and met General Armistead, when it was agreed 
that he would bring his band in to Fort Pierce, on Indian 
River. During April and May he came in frequently to 
Fort Pierce, expressing great anxiety to emigrate, but say- 
ing that the movements of the troops had caused his peo- 
ple to scatter and conceal themselves, and he had great 
difficulty in finding them. He said a council was to be 
held at Lake Okechobee, where he would meet Arpeika, 
Billy Bowlegs, and Hospetarkee, and he would endeavor 
to induce them to consent to emigrate. From the caution 
and sobriety evinced by him, and the large requisitions he 
made for whisky and provisions, Major Childs, command- 
ing at Fort Pierce, became satisfied that Wild Cat was 

28* 



330 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

carrying on a deceptive game, and advised his seizure, and 
orders were issued for that purpose. 

A band of Indians on the Ocklockonee River, in Middle 
Florida, kept all that portion of the Territory in continual 
alarm, and although nearly a regiment of regular troops 
occupied the country, their commanding officer reported, 
in April, that he was unable to find or capture them. 
Another band lurked in and around the Okefinokee Swamp, 
and disturbed all that region of country. 

One of the most active and treacherous of the remain- 
ing chiefs, Halleck-Tustenuggee, occupied the country 
around the Withlacoochee and Ocklawaha. He sent in 
his sub-chiefs to Major Plympton with a bundle of sticks, 
representing that he was gathering his people in order to 
emigrate, and asking for provisions, which being at length 
refused, he threw off the mask and left in his trail sixty 
sticks, representing his band, painted with blood. 

Colonel Davenport, commanding at Sarasota, on the 26th 
of April reported an entire failure in the attempted negotia- 
tions with the Indians, and that they had all gone back to 
the woods, and gave a very hostile reception to the mes- 
sengers sent to urge their return. 

The close of the season of active operations left matters 
in very little better condition than at the same period in 
the previous year. General Armistead, in May, 1841, 
asked to be relieved of the command in Florida. The 
result of his operations during the previous year was the 
surrender or capture of four hundred and fifty Indians, of 
whom one hundred and twenty were warriors. A delega- 
tion of friendly Indians had been brought from Arkansas 
to use their influence in persuading the remaining Semi- 
noles to emigrate. They were instructed to give a favor- 
able account of the country assigned to the Indians west of 
Arkansas, and to use every inducement to obtain their sur- 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



Zl^ 



render. It was doubted whether they did not accomplish 
more harm than good. General William J, Worth was 
now assigned to the command, making the eighth com- 
mander sent out to close the war. No better choice could 
have been made than that of the distinguished officer who 
so well earned the distinctive title assigned to him by uni- 
versal consent, — the gallant Worth. 

No more unpromising field for distinction could have 
been found than Florida presented at the period when Gen- 
eral Worth was assigned to the command. As the number 
of Indians had been reduced, their tactics had been 
changed. They no longer presented themselves, as at 
first, to contest the passage of troops in the open field. 
They now found that by subdividing into small squads they 
could distract the attention of the troops, and, by the 
smallness of their number, find ready concealment and 
elude pursuit. They had become accustomed to the mode 
of conducting military operations, and knew that with the 
approach of the summer heats they would remain unmo- 
lested. Far down in the Everglades there were islands 
never trodden by the foot of the white man, where they 
could place their families in security and plant their crops 
in peace. From these fastnesses they could sally forth upon 
long expeditions for murder and rapine ; acquainted with 
coverts to which they might readily fly in all parts of the 
country, able to support themselves upon the abundant 
game, they possessed an unlimited power of doing mischief, 
and were almost as unapproachable as the birds in the air. 
Where they had been, was easily ascertained by the bodies 
of the slain victims and the ashes of destroyed homes, but 
where they were, it was a matter of impossibility to more 
than conjecture. And when other means of support failed, 
or it was desirable to check a too active movement in the 
direction of their camps, they had the convenient resort of 



332 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

a friendly talk and peaceful overtures, accompanied with an 
abundant supply of whisky and rations. 

The officer now in command comprehended fully the task 
before him. He had seen, in the failures of his predeces- 
sors, the results of going into summer quarters one-half of 
the year, and the cessation of hostilities during peace ne- 
gotiations occupying much of the remaining portion. He 
had been assigned to the command on 31st May, a period 
of the year when it was usual to go into summer quarters. 
General Worth at once inaugurated a different policy. The 
force at his disposal was about five thousand men in all, 
but of these over one thousand were unfit for duty. He at 
once organized his force in the most effective manner, and 
prepared for a continuous campaign, irrespective of the 
season ; and the simple injunction, "Find the enemy, cap- 
ture or exterminate," was to govern the commanders in 
their operations. General Worth established his head- 
quarters at Fort King. Early in June a detachment of 
troops penetrated the swamps surrounding Lake Fanee 
Suffeekee, with the hope of surprising Halleck-Tustenug- 
gee, but, after a severe night march, they found his camp 
deserted. 

On the 15th of June, Major Childs, commanding at Fort 
Pierce, acting under the orders he had received from Gen- 
eral Armistead, secured Coacoochee, his brother, a brother 
of King Philip, together with thirteen warriors and three 
negroes who came in to his post. They were immediately 
sent off to Arkansas. General Worth being advised of this 
capture, and of their being shipped West, sent one of his 
officers to New Orleans to intercept the vessel on which 
they had been sent, in order to bring back Coacoochee, 
whom he desired to make use of in his ulterior operations. 
Major Capers, the officer sent, intercepted the vessel, 
Coacoochee expressing the greatest pleasure at being taken 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 333 

back to Florida, and promising to bring in his whole 
band. 

A simultaneous movement was ordered to take place in 
each district, for the purpose of breaking up any camps 
which the Indians might have formed, destroying their 
crops and stores wherever they might be found. Boat de- 
tachments ascended the Withlacoochee, found several fields 
of growing crops, and destroyed them. Every swamp and 
hammock between the Atlantic and Gulf coasts was visited, 
and the band of Halleck-Tustenuggee routed out of the 
Wahoo Swamp. Many fields were found in the hammocks 
and islands of the Charl-Apopka country, with huts, pal- 
metto sheds, and corn-cribs. Tiger-Tail had a large field 
upon one of these islands, which was his reliance for the 
ensuing year, and from a tree in the hammock he wit- 
nessed its entire destruction by the troops. Several fields 
were destroyed on the Suwanee and in Wacasassa Ham- 
mock. 

The operations of the army were harassing and destruc- 
tive to the Indians, and they were driven to make use of 
every expedient to escape pursuit and capture by the troops, 
who were scouting in every direction. The last of June 
they held a council to consult upon their situation. They 
determined not to surrender, but to put to death any mes- 
senger, whether white, Indian, or negro, who dared to 
come within their reach. They agreed to keep together 
for mutual protection, and had scouts out to report the 
number and approach of troops. 

The detachments thus engaged in scouring the country 
continued in the field twenty-five days. The number 
engaged was about six hundred, and about twenty-five per 
cent, were sent to the hospitals. The thermometer aver- 
aged 86°, and, considering the heat and exposure, the 
experiment satisfactorily demonstrated the ability of the 



334 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

troops to operate in the summer. In the course of their 
movements they destroyed thirty-five fields and one hun- 
dred and eighty huts or sheds. 

The inhabitants were invited to return to their homes, 
and inducements of subsistence and protection were offered 
them if they would do so. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Florida War, continued, under Command of General Worth — Inter- 
view between General Worth and Coacoochee at Tampa Bay — Sur- 
render of Coacoochee's Band — Active Operations of General Worth 
in the Everglades — Surrender of various Bands — Close of the 
Florida W^ar. 

General Worth, having been informed that Coacoo- 
chee had arrived at Tampa, proceeded to that point to hold 
an interview with him. The Indian chief and his com- 
panions were on board a transport in the harbor, and held 
in irons to prevent the hope or possibility of escape. 

On the morning of the 4th of July the interview took 
place on the transport. The stately and soldier-like pres- 
ence of the commanding general was enhanced by the 
presence of his staff in full uniform. Nothing was omitted 
to give impressiveness to the scene. After the general had 
arrived, and his party had been seated, Coacoochee and 
his companions came forward, heavily ironed, and moving 
with difficulty, and sat down on the deck. General Worth 
rose, and, taking the young chief by the hand, said, '* Coa- 
coochee, I take you by the hand as a warrior, a brave man ; 
you have fought long, and with a true and strong heart, for 
your country. I take your hand with feelings of pride ; 
you love your country as we do; it is sacred to you; the 
ashes of your country are dear to you and the Seminole; 
these feelings have caused much bloodshed, distress, horrid 
murders ; it is time now the Indian felt the power of the 

(335) 



^^6 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

white man. Like the oak, you may bear up for many 
years against strong winds ; the time must come when it 
will fall. This time has arrived. You have withstood the 
blasts of five winters, and the storms of thunder, lightning, 
and wind of five summers ; the branches have fallen, and 
the tree, burnt at the roots, is prostrate. 

''■ Coacoochee, I am your friend ; so is your Great Father 
at Washington. What I say to you is true. My tongue is 
not forked like a snake's. My word is for the happiness of 
the red man. You are a great warrior; the Indians through- 
out the country look to you as a leader \ by your counsels 
they have been governed. This war has lasted five years; 
much blood has been shed, — much innocent blood. You 
nave made your hands and the ground red with the blood 
of women and children. This war must now end. You 
are the man to do it; you must and shall accomplish it. 
I sent • for you that through the exertions of yourself and 
your men you might induce your entire band to emigrate. 
I wish you to state hoAV many days it will require to effect 
an interview with the Indians in the woods. You can 
select three or five of these men to carry your talk ; name 
the time, it shall be granted ; but I tell you, as I wish your 
relatives and friends told, that unless they ifulfill your de- 
mands, yourself and these warriors now seated before us 
shall be hung to the yards of this vessel when the sun sets 
on the day appointed, with the irons upon your hands and 
feet. I tell you this that we may well understand each 
other. I do not wish to frighten you ; you are too brave 
a man for that; but I say what I mean, and I will do it. 
It is for the benefit of the white and red man. The war 
must end, and you must end itf 

Silence pervaded the company as the general closed. 
Coacoochee rose, and replied, in a subdued tone, — 

' '■ I was once a boy ; then I saw the white man afar off. 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



337 



I hunted in these woods first with a bow and arrow, then 
with a rifle. I saw the white man, and was told he was my 
enemy. I could not shoot him as I would a wolf or bear ; 
yet like these he came upon me ; horses, cattle, and fields 
he took from me. He said he was my friend ; he abused 
our women and children, and told us to go from the land. 
Still he gave me his hand in friendship ; we took it; while 
taking it he had a snake in the other; his tongue was 
forked ; he lied and stung us. I asked but for a small 
piece of these lands, enough to plant and live upon, far 
south, a spot where I could place the ashes of my kindred ; 
a spot only sufficient upon which I could lay my wife and 
child. This was not granted me. I was put in prison. I 
escaped. I have been again taken ; you have brought me 
back; lam here. I feel the irons in my heart. I have 
listened to your talk. You and your officers have taken us 
by the hand in friendship. I thank you for bringing me 
back. I can now see my warriors, my women and chil- 
dren ; the Great Spirit thanks you ; the heart of the poor 
Indian thanks you. We know but little; we have no books 
which tell all things; but we have the Great Spirit, moon, 
and stars ; these told me last night you would be our friend. 
I give you my word; it is the word of a warrior^ a chief, 
a brave ; it is the word of Coacoochee. It is true I have 
fought like a man ; so have my warriors ; but the whites are 
too strong for us. I wish now to have my band around 
me and go to Arkansas. You say I must end the war ! 
Look at these irons ! Can I go to my warriors ? Coacoo- 
chee chained ! No ; do not ask me to see them. I never 
wish to tread upon my land unless I am free. If I can go 
to them unchained, they will follow me in ; but I fear they 
will not obey me when I talk to them in irons. They will 
say my heart is weak, I am afraid. Could I go free, they 
will surrender and emigrate." 

29 



338 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

General Worth, in reply, told him distinctly that he 
could not go, nor would his irons be taken off until his 
entire band had surrendered, but that he might select three 
or five of the prisoners, who should be liberated, and per- 
mitted to carry his talk ; they should be granted thirty, 
forty, or fifty days if necessary. He concluded by saying, 

''I say to you again, and for the last time, that unless 
the band acquiesce promptly with your wishes, to your last 
wish, the sun, as it goes down on the last day appointed 
for their appearance, will shine upon the bodies of each of 
you hanging in the wind." 

Coacoochee, after consultation, selected five of his com- 
panions to bear his message. After reciting his past ser- 
vices and claims upon his band, he concluded : 

'* My feet are chained, but the head and heart of Coa- 
coochee reach you. The great white chief (Po-car-ger) 
will be kind to us. He says when my band comes in I 
shall again walk my land free, with my band around me. 
He has given you forty days to do this business in : if you 
want more, say so ; I will ask for more ; if not, be true to 
the time. Take these sticks ; here are thirty-nine, one for 
each day ; this, much larger than the rest, with blood upon 
it, is the fortieth. When the others are thrown away, and 
this only remains, say to my people that with the setting 
sun Coacoochee hangs like a dog, with none but white 
men to hear his last words. Come, then ; come by the 
stars, as I have led you to battle. Come, for the voice of 
Coacoochee speaks to you." 

The five messengers were relieved of their irons, and 
went on their embassy. As time passed, the utmost anx- 
iety was felt by all for the return of the messengers. Old 
Micco accompanied them, and in ten days returned with 
six warriors and a number of women and children. They 
continued to arrive in small parties, when, on the last of 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 339 

the month, all had come in, numbering seventy-eight war- 
riors, sixty-four women, and forty-seven children, — one 
hundred and eighty-nine in all. 

When Coacoochee was told that his people had all come 
in, he seemed greatly relieved. ''Take off my irons," he 
said, ''that I may once more meet my warriors like a man." 
His irons being taken off, he proceeded to the shore ; three 
ostrich plumes hung from his turban, his breast was covered 
with silver ornaments, his colored frock and red leggings, 
a red sash around his waist, containing a scalping-knife, 
completed his costume. On arriving on shore he gave a 
shrill whoop, passed on to headquarters and saluted Gen- 
eral Worth, then, turning to the crowd, said, — 

"Warriors, Coacoochee speaks to you! You have lis- 
tened to my word and taken it ; I thank you. The Great 
Spirit speaks in our councils. The rifle is hid, and the 
white and red man are friends. I have given my word for 
you; then let my word be true. I am done. By our 
council-fire I will say more." 

General Worth, by this sagacious use of Coacoochee, 
had accomplished the first part of his plan, — the securing 
of this warlike and troublesome band, numbering some 
two hundred in all. 

Coacoochee was by no means the great warrior his 
vanity led him to estimate himself. He was vain, bold, 
and cunning. General Worth had operated upon his weak 
point by treating him as a great chief. The general now 
proposed to make still further use of him by procuring his 
services in bringing in the other bands, which he thought 
might more easily and certainly be brought to surrender 
by negotiation than by hostile pursuit. Coacoochee him- 
self having surrendered, he desired to increase his influence 
at the West by carrying with him a larger force, and readily 
consented to use his influence in inducing the rest to emi- 



340 HISTORY OF FLORIDA, 

grate. At his instance, the active operations of the army 
were to some degree suspended. 

Detachments, however, continued to operate on the fron- 
tier, and scouting-parties were patrolling the country. In 
August a detachment under Captain Gwynn established a 
post on Pease Creek, twenty miles above its mouth. 
Shortly afterwards Sole-Micco, accompanied by two other 
men and twenty women and children, came into the post 
for protection, being closely pursued by a party of the 
Prophet's band from the Big Cypress Swamp. 

In this swamp had now gathered a large number of des- 
perate characters from all the tribes, and runaways from the 
Creeks in Georgia. The influence of the Prophet, himself 
a runaway Creek, was supreme. Micco had been sent out 
from Sarasota to carry a talk to some of the chiefs, but 
was in peril of his life, and took the first opportunity to 
escape, bringing in his mother and other relatives. He 
was able to give important information as to the location 
and designs of the Indians in that quarter. 

Coacoochee had a brother, Otulkee, whom he was anxious 
to reach and have come in to go West with him. He pro- 
posed that his younger brother should go down to Pease 
Creek with an Indian woman, who was to carry a talk to 
Arpeika and Billy Bowlegs. This messenger, after an ab- 
sence of ten days, returned to the post on Pease Creek, 
bringing with him Otulkee and five others. Otulkee 
brought a message from Hospetarkee that he was coming 
to see Coacoochee. General Worth arrived about that 
time at Pease Creek with Coacoochee, who, learning that 
Hospetarkee was in camp near there, went out to find him, 
and succeeded in getting him to come into camp with 
eighteen of his followers to have a talk. General Worth 
appointed the talk on board a transport in the river, and, 
being satisfied that the old chief did not intend to sur- 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



341 



render, he secured him and his warriors. Messengers were 
sent to procure the coming in of the remainder of his 
band, with the women and children, who, some weeks 
afterwards, came in at Punta Rossa, and joined Hospe- 
tarkee at Fort Brooke. 

In September an embassy arrived from Tiger-Tail and 
his brother, expressing themselves anxious for peace. A 
party of fifteen warriors, belonging to Halleck-Tustenuggee, 
was captured, and another party of fifteen belonging to 
various bands. Communication was opened with several 
chiefs, and Coacoochee and Aleck Hajo, a sub-chief, who 
had been captured, used their influence to bring in others. 
The negro interpreter Sampson, who had been captured 
at the attack on Colonel Harney on Carlosahatchee, now 
came in, having made his escape from the Prophet's band, 
and gave important information. 

In October, at the solicitation of Hospetarkee and Coa- 
coochee, their bands were sent to Arkansas with others who 
were at Tampa. The number sent was two hundred and 
eleven. 

Alligator, one of the leading chiefs who had been sent 
by General Jesup to Arkansas, had been sent for to use his 
influence with Tiger-Tail and Halleck-Tustenuggee, and 
had an interview with Tiger-Tail shortly after his arrival. 
During the month of October, thirty of Halleck-Tuste- 
nuggee's band came in, and a portion of Tiger-Tail's. 

A combined land and naval expedition, under Captain 
Burke of the army, and Lieutenant McLaughlin of the 
navy, was made through the Everglades in October. No 
Indians were captured, but a very thorough scout was 
made. It was now determined by General Worth to 
organize a large force and penetrate the southern part of 
the peninsula by land and in boats, and to attack the 
stronghold of the Indians in the Big Cypress, where Ar- 

29* 



342 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



peika and the Prophet held supreme command. A large 
naval expedition was to accompany the movement. The 
examination of the hiding-places of the Indians was 
thorough and complete. The troops marched through 
swamps, deep in mud and water ; their boats penetrated 
every creek and landed upon every island. The Indians, 
apprised of their presence, fled towards the coast and were 
seldom seen ; extensive fields were found and destroyed, and 
every hut and shelter burned. The Indians now saw that no 
hiding-place was secure, and that, with a vigilant and en- 
ergetic commander like General Worth to deal with, they 
were to encounter war in a different form from that which 
they had previously experienced. They had hitherto con- 
sidered their homes in the Big Cypress and in the islands 
of the Everglades inaccessible, and they went on the war- 
path when it suited their convenience, noiselessly stole 
upon the unsuspecting traveler, or the isolated family of 
the settler, and, scattering death and devastation, gathered 
up their plunder and regained their coverts in security. 
There was for the savage a horrible fascination in a life 
like this, and the young Indian lads, who had grown up to 
manhood during the conflict, hardly knew what a peaceful 
existence meant. A state of warfare had become habitual. 
The older warriors clearly perceived now that this state of 
affairs could not last, and that they must make terms with 
their foe. Their fields devastated, flying for their lives to 
new hiding-places, powder and ball becoming too scarce 
to be used for hunting, and fearful that the sound of their 
rifles would betray their location, this unceasing prosecu- 
tion of hostilities began to tell upon and discourage them. 
The following graphic summary of the Big Cypress ex- 
pedition is appended to a long and interesting diary kept 
by an officer. '•' Thus ended the Big Cypress campaign, like 
all others. Drove the Indians out, broke them up, taught 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



343 



them we could go where they could ; men and officers 
worn down ; two months in water ; plunder on our backs ; 
hard times; trust they are soon to end. . . . Indians 
asking for peace in all quarters. The only reward we ask 
is the ending of the Florida War."* 

In connection with the expedition entering the Ever- 
glades from the Gulf, orders were given to Major Wade, 
commanding at Fort Lauderdale, on the southeastern part 
of the Atlantic coast of Florida, to scout for any Indians who 
might be driven out in that direction from the interior. 
He succeeded in finding two villages, and captured fifty-five 
Indians and killed eight, destroying twenty canoes, and all 
their fields and huts. 

While these active measures were going on to reach the 
main body of the Indians in the Everglades, the small 
parties lying out in different parts of the country continued 
to commit murders and evade pursuit. A considerable 
party was concealed on the Esteen-hatchee and adjacent 
hammocks, consisting mainly of Creeks under Halpater- 
Tustenuggee. Another band, headed by Octiarche, were 
in the Gulf Hammocks, near the Wacasassa. 

On the 2oth of December, 1841, the majority of the 
men in the Mandarin settlement, on the east side of the 
St. John's, about twelve miles from Jacksonville, went out 
on a general hunt. During their absence, a party of seven- 
teen Indians, belonging to Halleck-Tustenuggee's band, 
attacked the settlement and killed two men, two women, 
and a child, and burned the houses. As this attack 
was made in one of the most thickly settled parts of the 
country, it created universal fear and consternation. The 
Indians were traced to the hiding-place of Tustenuggee, on 
Dunn's Lake. 

* Lieutenant C. R. Gates's Journal, Sprague, 370. 



344 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

Major Belknap succeeded in opening negotiations with 
some of the sub-chiefs of Bowlegs and Sam Jones in the 
neighborhood of Lake Istokpoga, and secured sixty-seven 
of their followers, including thirty-two young warriors. 

On the 5th of February, 1842, two hundred and thirty 
Indians were shipped from Tampa to Arkansas, and on the 
loth of April one hundred more were sent to the same des- 
tination. 

General Worth now determined to make a final effort to 
secure Halleck-Tustenuggee and his band. This cunning 
and vindictive chief had eluded every effort which had 
been made to capture him, and laughed to scorn all the 
messages received from friendly Indians advising his sur- 
render. He was a complete master of wood-craft, and 
could conceal his tracks, or so arrange them as to mislead 
those engaged in the pursuit. He had baffled every detach- 
ment sent after him, and the commanding general now 
took command in person. Tustenuggee was finally brought 
to bay in April, 1842, in the Pilaklikaha Swamp, and his 
hiding-place surrounded. The troops charged the ham- 
mock with great gallantry, and received the fire of the 
Indians, who discharged their rifles rapidly, but soon 
broke into small parties and escaped, leaving one killed, 
two wounded, and one prisoner, the loss of the troops being 
about the same. 

The troops were thus again baffled in their expectation 
of capturing this noted chief. They had, however, cap- 
tured his father- in-law, Osane-Micco (the King of the 
Lakes), through whom a talk was sent to Tustenuggee, and 
who shortly afterwards influenced the chief to come in to 
hold a talk with General Worth. General Worth appointed 
the time for another talk with him at Fort King. Taking 
advantage of the absence of their chief. Colonel Garland 
succeeded in getting the entire band to attend a feast, and 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA, 



345 



secured the whole party, and the chief was also secured by 
General Worth, The capture of the one Indian in the 
first instance thus resulted, by the sagacious use of this 
means of communication, in getting possession of the en- 
tire party, consisting of thirty-two warriors and thirty- 
eight women and children. This was one of the most 
important steps towards bringing the war to a close. This 
band had done more to keep up the general alarm, and 
disturb the settlements, than all the others. 

The band of Creeks and outlaws still occupied the 
swamps west of the Suwanee. A large detachment took 
the field, and made a thorough scout through every part of 
this region where they were likely to be found. Their 
fields and settlements were visited and destroyed, and two 
Indians were killed, and two squaws and three children 
were -captured. To revenge this pursuit, Halpatter-Tuste- 
nuggee, with a war-party, crossed the Suwanee River, at- 
tacked a settler's family near Newnansville, killing a woman 
and three children, and burned the house. They then 
turned south, and fired upon a detachment of troops near 
Blue Peter Pond, west of Wacahootee, killing two soldiers, 
and, being sharply pursued, joined Octiarche in Wacasassa 
Hammock. 

In February, 1842, General Worth had addressed a com- 
munication to the War Department, submitting a statement 
of the number of Indians remaining in Florida, which, 
from the best sources of information he could obtain, 
amounted to one hundred and twelve warriors and one 
hundred and eighty-nine women and children, and suggest- 
ing that, with such an insignificant number to deal with, 
the government might now safely close the war by allowing 
such of them as chose to remain within certain limits below 
Pease Creek to have the privilege of doing so as a tempo- 
rary arrangement ; that being confined within limits far 



346 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

distant from the white settlements, with a knowledge of 
their own weakness, they would remain quiet and inof- 
fensive. 

This proposal was not at first approved, but subsequently, 
in a message to Congress, of May lo, 1842, President Tyler 
approved of General Worth's suggestions, and orders were 
issued accordingly. 

On the 14th of July, Halleck-Tustenuggee, forty war- 
riors, and eighty women and children were embarked for 
Arkansas. 

On the 14th of August, 1842, General Worth issued his 
General Order, No. 28, announcing that hostilities with 
the Indians in Florida had ceased, and designating the 
limits assigned for the temporary occupation of the Indians, 
being from the mouth of Pease Creek to the fork of the 
southern branch, thence to the head of Lake Istokpoga, 
thence down to the Kissimee, thence to Lake Okechobee, 
and down through the Everglades to Shark River, and 
along the coast to the place of beginning. 

A part of General Worth's policy had been to reoccupy 
the habitable part of the country with settlers, who, with 
block-houses to resort to in case of need, should hold an 
armed occupation. This plan was successfully carried 
out, and over three hundred settlers with their families 
were located. 

On the 17th of August, General Worth turned over the 
command in Florida, and proceeded to Washington, in 
pursuance of orders of the War Department. Upon his 
arrival, he was conducted by the Secretary of War to the 
President, who expressed his appreciation, and that of the 
country, of the fidelity with which all grades of the army 
had discharged their duty in Florida, and handed him the 
commission of a brevet brigadier-general, conferred by 
the Senate of the United States, in consideration '' of 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



347 



gallantry and highly-distinguished services as commander 
of the forces in the war against the Florida Indians." 

The headquarters of the army had been established at 
Cedar Keys, and negotiations were going on, when the 
intelligence was brought to Colonel Vose that, on the nth 
of August, a band often Indians had attacked the settlement 
at San Pedro, in Madison County, and killed two citizens. 
Colonel Bailey raised a party, and immediately went in pur- 
suit, overtook the Indians and killed two and wounded five 
of their number. This event, occurring in the midst of a 
populous country, just at the time when General Worth had 
issued his announcement that hostilities had ceased, caused 
much anxiety, and induced many persons to censure or 
distrust the step which had been taken to close the war. 

Public opinion in Florida, acting upon the authorities at 
Washington, caused the War Department to issue instruc- 
tions, on the 22d of September, to Colonel Vose, directing 
him to muster into service a militia force, and push vigor- 
ously for the capture and punishment of the enemy. 

Colonel Vose suspended the execution of these orders, 
explaining to the War Departmen,t the true condition of 
affairs. 

On the 4th and 5th of October, a violent gale caused an 
unprecedented tidal wave and high water at Cedar Keys, 
destroying all the government stores, and nearly submerg- 
ing the whole island. 

On the ist of November, General Worth, under orders 
of the War Department, resumed command in Florida. 

Octiarche and Tiger-Tail had been for a long time 
carrying on a negotiation with the commanding officer for 
surrender and emigration. These negotiations had been 
accompanied with requisitions for subsistence and whisky, 
but new excuses for delay were constantly made. Finding 
that Octiarche would probably be involved in difficulties 



348 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 



with Billy Bowlegs, who now claimed to be the head-chief 
of the Seminoles, General Worth directed that he and his 
followers should be secured when they next came into Fort 
Brooke. Shortly afterwards. Tiger-Tail and those remain- 
ing with him were captured and brought in. 

The Indians remaining on the Oklockonee with Pascoffer, 
still remained out. Colonel Hitchcock went out with a 
detachment to operate against them, and, by his energetic 
and vigilant pursuit, compelled the surrender of that chief 
and his entire band, numbering fifty-nine, twenty-nine of 
whom were warriors. Middle and West Florida were, by 
this surrender of Pascoffer, entirely relieved of Indians, 
and the surrender of Tustenuggee, Octiarche, and Tiger- 
Tail had removed nearly all from the central and northern 
parts of East Florida. These Indians were now all sent to 
New Orleans, and thence to Arkansas. 

No other Indians now remained in the Territory, except 
those under Arpeika and Bowlegs, who were within the 
limits assigned them south of Pease Creek, and there was 
no longer any apprehension of difficulty, and, by com- 
mon consent, it was admitted that the credit of finally 
closing the Florida War was attributable to the rare com- 
bination of qualifications for this work exhibited by the 
gallant Worth. Skillful alike in military combinations and 
in negotiation, he was never outwitted or overreached. 
His operations were conducted with great economy of life 
and treasure, and in the space of little more than a year 
he solved the problem which had so perplexed his prede- 
cessors and embarrassed the government. Like other com- 
manders, he was at times severely criticised by those who 
were unable to comprehend, or were ignorant of, his plans ; 
but at this day only a sentiment of profound respect and 
admiration exists for the memory of the able and chival- 
rous general who could win laurels upon so unpromising a 



HISTORY OF FLORIDA, 



349 



field as that presented in Florida, and who earned a nation's 
gratitude on the plains of Mexico. 

In November, 1843, General Worth estimated the whole 
number of Indians remaining in Florida as follows : of 
warriors, Seminoles, forty-tw6 ; Miccosukies, thirty-three ; 
Creeks, ten ; Tallahassees, ten ; ninety-five warriors in all, 
and, including women and children, three hundred in all, 
under Holatter-Micco as head-chief, and Assinwar and 
Otulko-Thlocko, the Prophet, sub-chiefs. In 1845, Cap- 
tain Sprague, w^ho had been specially in charge of the 
Indian department in Florida, estimated the total number 
at three hundred and sixty. Sam Jones (Arpeika) was 
only a sub-chief; he was then reputed to be ninety-two 
years of age. 

The Florida War may be said to have commenced with 
the massacre of Major Dade's command, on the 28th of 
December, 1835, and closed, by official proclamation, on 
the 14th of August, 1842, having lasted nearly seven years. 
It was generally said to have cost the United States forty 
millions of dollars, which, before our recent contest, was 
considered an immense sum of money. Captain (now 
General) Sprague, in his valuable work, states the expendi- 
tures at upwards of nineteen millions. 

The number of troops, of all descriptions, employed 
during the several years was as follows : 



Nov. 30, 1836. 


General Jesup commanding, 


. 4220 


" " 1837. 




" 


" 


. . 8866 


" « 1838. 




Taylor 


** 


. . 3471 


1839. 




" 


" 


. 3S14 


1840. 




Armistead 


" 


. 6034 


1 841. 




Worth 


" 


. 3801 



The number of deaths among the regular troops during 
the war amounted to an aggregate of fourteen hundred and 

30 



350 HISTORY OF FLORIDA. 

sixty-six, of whom the very large number of two hundred 
and fifteen were officers. 

On two subsequent occasions there were difficulties with 
the Indians, caused by their coming in conflict with white 
settlers outside of their boundaries. After a brief cam- 
paign of State troops, they were driven back within their 
limits. 

An inconsiderable number of Indians still inhabit the 
more southerly portion of the peninsula, peacefully sup- 
porting themselves by hunting and fishing. 



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Our Own Birds of the United States, A Familiar 

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CHAMBERS'S ENCYCLOPEDIA. 

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LIPPINCOTT'S PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY 



BIOGRAPHY AND MYTHOLOGY 

Containing Memoirs of the Eminent persons of all Ages and Countries 
and Accounts of the Various Subjects of the Norse, Hindoo and 
Classic Mythologies, with the Pronunciation of their Names in 
the different Languages in which they occur. By J. Thomas, 
A. M., M. D. Imperial 8vo. Published in Parts of 64 pages. 
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in. A LOGICAL SYSTEM OF ORTHOGRAPHY. 
IV. THE ACCURATE PRONUNCIATION OF THE NAMES. 
V. FULL BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES. 



" I have tafeen the trouble to look out a 
large number of names, such as seemed 
to me good tests of the compass, suf- 
ficency and accura-:y of the biographical 
notices. The resv.lt has been in a high 
degree satisfactory. So far as I have ex- 
amined nobody was omitted that deserved 
a place, and the just proportions were 
maintained between the various claim- 
ants to their page, or paragraph, or line. 
The star of the first magnitude was not 
shorn of its radiance, and the scarcely visi- 
ble spark was allowed its little glimmer."' — 
From Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

" It is a work which I shall be glad to 
possess, both on account of the fullness 
of its matter, and because the pronuncia- 
tion of the names is given. I have had 
occasion, from the other works of Dr. 
Thomas, to be convinced of his great ex- 
actness in that respect. The work will be 
a valuable addition to the books of refer- 
ence in our lanf,uage." — From William 
CuLLEN Bryant. 

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" I can speak in high terms of the tho- 
roughness and accuracy with which the 
work has been prepared. It is a store- 
house of valuable and trustworthy infor- 
mation. The pronunciation of the names, 
which is systematically given, will add 
much to the usefulness of the work." — 
From Prof. James Hadley, Yale Col- 
lege. 

" I think that the work wlien completed 
will supply a real want. I was especially 
pleased with the sensible and learned 
preface of the editor, and am persuaded 
that he has chosen the true system of 
orthography. From what I know of Dr. 
Thomas, I feel sure that he will give us a 
book that may be depended on for com- 
prehensiveness and accuracy, the two 
great desid^randa in such an undertak- 
ing."— /"r^w Prof. Jas. Russell Low- 
ell. 

" It is the most valuable work of the 
kind in English that I have seen."- -pyovi 
Gen. R. E. Lee, Washitigton College. 



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